Cannon Beach's world famous landmark rises 235 feet above the shoreline at the ocean's edge. Haystack Rock is a natural treasure and remarkable geological ­formation, millions of years old, where you can explore colorful tidepools and watch nesting puffins. In its tidepools, colorful sea stars cling to barnacle-covered rocks, bright green sea anemones lay open like flowers and thumbnail-sized hermit crabs scurry along in borrowed shells. Its grassy covering ­provides nesting ground for Tufted Puffins from early spring through early summer, offering the Northwest's most ­accessible location for viewing these ­brightly ­colored characters. Many other varieties of birds feed, visit or nest on Haystack Rock ­including Western Gulls, Pigeon Guillemots, cormorants, Bald Eagles, Harlequin Ducks and Black ­Oystercatchers, making it a year-round attraction for bird watchers. Between March and September, during daytime low tides, the Haystack Rock Awareness Program provides interpretive information on the beach near the rock with displays of live intertidal specimens and spotting scopes for bird watching.