A mussel-festooned reef frames up the sky above and the sand below. In the foreground, a sand-filled tide pool fills another frame. Its surface is a window into the world below. Lying on my belly, the view discloses intimate anemone details. Windows into the tide pool world are rarely this clear, and never for long.…
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So many sea creatures we don’t know about until a beach cast drops them at our feet. It happened again on December 13th, 2016. When I topped the foredune just ahead of high tide I didn’t know a mystery awaited in the drift line. I had to get on Twitter right away to find out…
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A foggy morning with low visibility and muted colors and sounds. Under these conditions you’ll find more action down at your feet than off in the distance. On this morning the air was still and warm. Sunrise added little more than glare and from the foredune the atmosphere was as oppressive as the view was…
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If you walk the drift line you’ll want to get to know Thinopinus pictus, the pictured rove beetle. Pictured roves roam the damp sand between the swash and dry sand ambushing beach hoppers. They’re most active at night, but the odds of running across one on your morning walk are high. You’ll have to watch…
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With the last bout of sea star wasting syndrome eastern Pacific starfish took a big hit. I describe the progression at this intertidal site in A Peek at Pisaster After Two Years of Sea Star Wasting Syndrome. After three years their numbers are still down. Removal experiments have shown we can expect changes in rocky…
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Last fall this vertical rock wall lay buried under a smothering layer of sand. The resident barnacles, Balanus glandula, couldn’t tolerate it. Winter surf removed the sand revealing empty B. glandula shells and something more; a dense settlement of new recruits. Open space doesn’t stay open long in the in the exposed rocky intertidal. Larvae arrive in…
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My first in-person encounter with buoy barnacles, Dosima fascicularis, came just a few days ago on March 26, 2016. People call them buoy barnacles or own-float goose barnacles. The names make sense because D. fascicularis can produce a foamy gas-filled float, alleviating the need to hitch-hike. The color, according to photos I’ve seen, varies from creamy…
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I took this on February 27, 2016 and made it the background on my Facebook profile a few days ago. It’s the northern Oregon coast, USA. The view is to the south, toward Arch Cape and then Cape Falcon in the farthest distance. The islet just offshore is Castle Rock or Queen Vic. Its east…
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Every winter high surf and rivers swelled by drenching storms combine with high tides to replenish the wrack line. It’s an annual cycle of renewal, muted only when winter storms are mild. Recent winters on my home beaches have seen few storms, low surf, and little replenishment of the wrack line. That changed this winter.…
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Waiting for the tide to turn takes patience. My companion on the wait for a high tide last November was this large gull. I thought my patient partner was a herring gull, but I took a closer look and changed my mind. The subject of my weight(less) contribution has intermediate traits – a dark but…
Read MoreEnjoying Life in the Ozarks
Writing & Photography Services
ich zeige euch meine stadt wie ich sie sehe
my photography and other observations
Exploring my local ecosystems, learning about the creatures I find, and sharing the beauty of nature!
Write what you feel, coz it doesn't make you fear
