Onamac Beach - May 27, 2009

12 Beach Watchers, one spouse and two Onamac neighbors met at 11:30 a.m. to monitor Onamac Beach. John C. and Duane H. arrived 30 minutes early to begin laying the 2 lines done at this beach.

Line One

Polychaete - Nephtyidae

Sand dollar front side

Sand dollar bottom

Shaggy moss nudibranch

Lined chiton

Line number one, the south line, started 50 feet out due to numerous huge driftwood logs. The most exciting thing found on this line were the hundreds and hundreds of mussels. There were mussels of all sizes, brown and blue. They were attached to the cobble and the gravel on the beach, halfway down the intertidal. It was noted that this phenomenon had not been observed in previous years on this beach. Some wondered if the Penn Cove Mussel Farm, across the bay to the north might have had a "mussel spat" spill last year.

This monitoring group also found several segmented worms (Polychaetes) and one in particular caught out attention - a Nephtyidae with its large parapodia and head tentacles. Further down a sand dollar. Dendraster excentricus, was found intact (a rare thing with all the wave action), and a large number of dogwinkles, Nucella Sp., as well as a shaggy moss nudibranch, Aeolidia papillosa. And last but not least this group found a stunning, huge lined chiton, Tonicella lineate, which for many of us was the largest we had ever seen.

Line Two

Cresent Gunnel Fish

Line two, the north line, was entirely different than line 1. There were very little invertebrates, or sea life. When we finally got down to where there was seaweed, the most exciting things were the numerous gunnels. One leaped out at Jan, who shrieked. That gunnel managed to wiggle itself about 4 feet over rocks and seaweed, and then disappeared down a mysterious hole. This eel-like fish has a long, spiny dorsal fin along its length.

MAJOR HIGHLIGHT - an Osprey

Osprey sitting

Osprey flying

The most memorable thing about this monitoring wasn't on the beach at all, but over our heads. A lonely Osprey came our way, hovered overhead, as if inspecting our work, and flew off. This bird returned again about 10 minutes later, to repeat the inspection. We were so captured by its presence that we failed to take pictures of it. This editor went to several of our Audubon folks who are Beach Watchers to see if they had any good osprey pictures and they came up with the following two, which they agreed to share with us on our website. For many of us, this was the first time we have seen this marvelous bird perform its hovering action mid-air. Quite amazing!

Following the monitoring, our hosts, John and Jan N. built a campfire and all who helped with the monitoring enjoyed treats and the experience of toasting their own hotdogs over the campfire. It was a beautiful day and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Thanks to John and Jan for this report and their wonderful hospitality.