Black Turnstone

Black Turnstone - (Arenaria melanocephala)

This little one was alone on the cliffs this morning. While I was taking photos of the Oystercatcher, she seemed to flit in front of us back and forth. Nate teased that she was a jealous camera hog. :)

She feeds on the rocks eating the crustaceans, mollusks, barnacles and worms. We have not been this close to one of these either!

This Black Turnstone has its Summer Color on  - see the white spot between the bill and the eye? That goes away to black in the winter.

 

Oyster Catcher

Oyster Catchers – (Haematopus bachmani) are fun birds to watch on the cliffs.  They are Jon’s favorite shore bird. We love to spot the long dark red bill and red eye liner.   These little guys feed on limpets, which we called china hats as kids. They pry them of of the dark rocks.  With their dark black bodies, they are hard to photograph. This morning we came around a cliff and one was sitting right there in front of us just staring – not moving – even long enough to get a photograph.  She flew off to the rocks further out in the surf when her mate called her over. Their call is a beautiful whistling sound.  There is a clip of their calls here. The chirp Chirp at first is one bird, then the whistling song at the end was what called the bird over to the rock.  Really amazing!

   

Surfing Geese

Walking the dog this evening – a large flock of Geese came flying north in between the surf line – swaying in and out in between the waves.

 

I am sad that the pictures are not more clear. I took about 10 or so – these were the best. They were flying so fast dodging waves, wings just touching the surf at times. So quickly they flew by! A real treat!

Random Phone Pics At the Beach

Nathan Saw a little girl carrying this crab around, asking if anyone knew what was in the back of it.
Nate told her it was a girl, and that those might be eggs.
He had her put th elittle crab back. Very Good little Naturalist!

Jon found this little guy in a negative tide in the tide pools. Not sure what he is, the shell is pretty hard.

Calm and Quiet at the Beach Today

The water was as calm today as I’ve ever seen.  Walking to the area we wanted to beach comb, it was 70 degrees – in the car thermometer – warm enough for the need to change into shorts and a lighter shirt and to pack water bottles. This photo was taken on the way home, when the wind was really picking up, pelting us with sand, bringing up the white caps.

This is one of my favorite rock structures.

I think this is a JonnyBird – or a LOONEY bird for climbing over there.

 

It is almost as hard to explain the lake like quality of the ocean today – as it is to describe the surf when it is in a 25 ft swell.

 

Walked over 5 miles today – ankles and knees are killing me, especially since we walked from 7am to about 6:30 pm yesterday . . . . Today was alot of rock climbing – fun, but hard on the knees.

Eagle Eye’s Dedication to Colorful Japanese Floats

See that blue “thing” back there? In the dark? Ya.  He wants it. See how the crack is smaller than his head? That the float is further away than we can whack at it with our walking stick?

Remember the Shovel in the Back Pack? And the Flashlight?

 

Shovel out sand, make room to crawl into crack in wall . . .

  

Free football shaped/sized blue float with lettering on it.
(and the ever desired rope)

    

To make boys in family brimming with joy.

Might have been a bad mommy move to take this closeup with flash with hand extended as far in the crack as possible to give him motivation to dig in there. . . . . .

Seriously, Anyone out there collect these things? 
Wanna have some????

Eagle Eye Nate and his 26 Floats

Ole Eagle Eye Nate. He can spot a swab of color a half mile away, if not more.  Then he’s off in a sprint to discover the joy. He packed a backpack today with a shovel, a flashlight, a bag, a knife, and Gum.

 

 

 

 

Quickly after arriving at the beach he finds a float with the netting on. He’s been wanting to find one with the net intact. Lucky for him the float was empty and light. :) On the belt it goes.

 

 

 

 

 

He finds a few blue ones, my favorite – and another white with the writing on it.

 

  
This is a beauty of a fossil in the rock of the cliff. It was up high, I had to stand on debris and then blind shoot the shot on macro. Wish it had more detail.

 

The flashlight came in handy in the crevasses!

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

This one was HUGE and HEAVY. (Praise God for the Heavy). He couldn’t carry it for far, so it got left, and it was gone when we came back . . . .hmmm Bummer.  (sarcasm is free)

 

 

 

So for the locals – I think this shot and
the one above should be enough.

26 Floats that went in the bag – more were left on the beach.

Not all of these big ones made it into the van,
but he had fun walking around with them.