August 9, 2018
Low tide exposes Saccharina (some drifted, some attached) and Ulva | Orcas Island
A drifted Saccharina blade on a bed of Ulva
A drifted Chondracanthus blade, Ulva, and Fucus
Saccharina latissima, I presume
This scene caught my eye
Low tide exposes Chondracanthus
Low tide on Orcas Island | View west, across East Sound
Saccharina latissima, sugar wrack
Pinching claw, Cancer productus
July 14, 2018
What will the wrack line hold?
I have it on good authority…it might be in Pleuronectidae, the right-eyed blokes
Low tide from Preacher’s Cave
Drift sea palm, Postelsia palmaeformis
Olivella biplicata, snowplowing
Gull footprints
Drift Ulva
Gulls can’t wait for low tide to peck ate exposed barnacle beds
Pacific sardine, Sardinops sagax
A sandy beach between headlands
Three inches long, if you know what this is, please let me know
Drift Desmarestia
Epiphytes on drifted black pine | the yellow balls might be Soranthera
Otter tracks, heading off toward the reef at the top of the image | river otters
It’s taken a bit of rolling to round off the edges
Morning stroll coming to a close
July 13, 2018
The beauty of low tide at dawn
A drift line dominated by spruce needles and mole crab molts
Sea foam, at times, is a major wrack component on the reefs.
Seaside plantain, Plantago maritima, pioneering onto a wrack line rubble of cobbles and sea shells
Striped shore crab, Pachygrapsus crassipes | they love crevices in big high intertidal rocks
June 15, 2018
Ever lovely Macrocystis
Drift bull Kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, and a side of Macrocystis
A good-sized beached jelly, over 30 cm across | has fried egg characteristics, so Phacellophora camtschatica?
From the swash zone to the spruce forest, drift Fucus, in the mirror
People in these parts call these cellophane tube worms, Spiochaetopterus costarum, what do you think?
A nod to terrestrial connections
Desmarestia
Gulls loafing, bellies full of crabs and barnacles
Signature workings, guess who | Olivella biplicata
I know some beach hoppers that are going to be overjoyed once this bull kelp find a resting place higher on the beach
June 14, 2018
Mostly dried surfgrass in the drift line, a little Zostera, a bleached Velella, and welk eggs
Epiphytic Ulva on a bull kelp stipe | note beach hopper workings in the sand
Feather boa, Egregia menziesii
Macrocystis pyrifera
Eccentric sand dollar shell
Sargassum
Surfgrass, Phyllospadix
Gull pellet | contents: gooseneck barnacles
Sea palm, Postelsia palmaeformis
Trace of Olivella biplicata plowing through beach sand
Olivella popped out of its burrow and started racing for…somewhere
Gull pellet | contents: rock crab
Gull pellet | contents: acorn barnacles
Drift feather boa
A drift line trifecta: bull kelp, feather boa, Macrocystis
Drift line quiz: how many species do you see?
Drift Fucus and beach hopper workings
May 18, 2018
Beach to myself, except a gull eyeing me
Where’s this drift log from? The cliffs above?
“Congratulations” balloon, older drift Velella
Good-sized drift wood
Drift line mostly older bleached Velella velella
Unfortunate mole crab, , Emerita analoga | note the bright, freshly-yolked eggs
Dungeness carapace
Whimbrels all over the beach, hunting Emerita
Whimbrels eat so many Emerita eggs it turns their poop orange
May 17, 2018
Blue buoys, Dosima fascicularis, on a spent by-the-wind sailor
Lone by-the-wind sailor
Too much of this
Mix of fresh and bleached Velella velella
Freshly arrived carboy inhabited by lots of distressed pelagic barnacles
California mussel, Mytilus californianus
Drifted Fucus
I’ve always called these tellins, but I’m not positive
There’s a seascape out there
Dungeness pinching claw
April 20, 2018
Bull-kelp nori, Pyropia, on a drifted bull-kelp stipe
Drift bull kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana
Drift line dominated by the partially bleached remains of drifted Velella velella
Lugged float
Northern fulmar
Drifted bull-kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana
Delicate red epiphyte on bull-kelp stipes
Almost washed away in the swash
Regugitated capitulum, Pollicipes polymerus | Gulls eat these and barf up the shells
This trap won’t fish
Rough keyhole limpet, Diodora aspera | just the shell, now go find a live one on the rocks!
What’s out of place here?
Olivella’s a show off
April 19, 2018
Carpet of drifted Velella velella
Ends a long float up in the cobbles on a bed of Velella
Shearwater?
Remains from a regurgitated gull pellet: plates from the capitulum, Pollicipes polymerus, goose-neck barnacle
More common in the drift line than you might think
Got the hitchhikers to prove it’s been afloat awhile
February 10, 2018
High tide’s all about the cobbles and an early morning glow
Bait jar
Strap kelp, Lessoniopsis littoralis, some people call it tree kelp
Fresh morning dog tracks
I wonder if this might be bush seaweed, Scinaia confusa, just a guess
Feather boa, Egregia menziesii
When life gives you cobbles…
Sunset brings a falling tide and a glow
Waiting for a green flash
A sunset low tide reveals a sandy beach
January 3, 2018
Anticipation
Sea oats, Nucella eggs, Emerita fragment (lower right)
Couple conifers
Three ecosystems represented: forest (Sitka spruce), estuary (eelgrass), open ocean (pyrosome)
Meant to be firewood; what now?
Probably Corbicula fluminea, a freshwater or brackish clam | a drifted shell from a nearby river?
Fat gaper, Tresus capax
Razor clam, Siliqua patula
The swash rushes out
Dungeness, Metacarcinus magister
Drifted bamboo
Drifter
Delicate blades of a red epiphyte on a bull kelp stipe | Perhaps Pyropia nereocystis?
Your guess is as good as mine
