Today was a cloudy day but still surprisingly warm. I took a walk along the mile long stretch of relatively untouched beach backing right up to a thick forest. Along the way I saw many different species of seaweed and some I had never seen before, like the Sea Cauliflower and Gracilariiopsis sjoestedtii. I also saw some Bull Kelp and a Dungeness crab in the sand. Perhaps the most spectacular part of the walk was when I spotted a bald eagle being chased by some crows. It flew out of the trees over the beach then found a new tree to perch in. As I got closer I noticed it was sitting very close to another bald eagle high up in a tree. I continued walking for another thirty minutes and when I turned around and passed them again they were still sitting in the exact same position and exact same branch. As I passed they looked down at me. I also saw a strange sea worm of some sort attached to a barnacle covered rock. It was a caramel color and had an almost sea anenome like top. I also saw a beautiful black and red tube worm extended from its tube. In the marshy area near the beach there was a large patch of silverweed and some of them were flowering with beautiful star shaped yellow flowers. Also that day I saw river otter prints leading away from the woods toward the bay.
Northern River Otter, Lontra canadensis
Cleavers, Galium aparine
Thimbleberry, Rubus parviflorus
Pacific Silverweed, Potentilla anserina pacifica
Leathesia difformis
Bull Kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana
Dungeness Crab, Metacarcinus magister
Gracilariopsis sjoestedtii
Bald Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus
Comon ivy, Hedera helix
I spotted a few baby bull kelps laying in the sand around 1:00pm during low tide. The weather was cloudy but warm.
This dungeness crab was laying in the sand during low tide, and it was hard to tell if it was alive or dead.
I first noticed this bald eagle when it was being disturbed by some crows. It would fly out of the trees then land a few trees down high up in the branches. At one point I realized it flew and joined another bald eagle, and the two sat up in the tree for over half an hour together.
In the forest near the beach there was ivy growing on many of the tree trunks in the shade.
I thought at first that these red tendrils of seaweed were the anchorings to bull kelp, but then I noticed them all over the beach, and they were a very different color than the bull kelp anchors. I looked it up and it seemed that the common name for this species is red spaghetti, but inaturalist does not recognize it.
I know this seaweed to be called sea cauliflower. I spotted quite a few of them in the sand along the beach.
This groundcover plant was growing in the open medow between the beach and the forest in the marshy area.
I am not sure what this creature is. I saw it protruding from a rock in between barnacles. It is a caramel color, is shiny and smaller than the size of a thumb. It had a bottle-like shape with a flower-like cap on it.
There were a few thimbleberry bushes growing along the edge of the forest bluff that meets the beach. All the bushes I saw were blooming white flowers.
This beautiful dark red shiny tube worm had black horizontal stripes. It was protruding from its tube even though it was low tide. I do not know this creature by any other name than a tube worm. It was growing amongst the snails and barnacles on a large rock.
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