The Intertidal Zone

Pebble Beach - June 17, 2010

2011-01-05T20:20:00.000-08:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Pebble Beach 2010
This beach has the potential to capture a Beach Watcher by having their boots sink into the sands. The beach goes out very far and it becomes a serious task to run the lines out before the tide turns. The sandy beach makes it difficult to find any sea life. This year, if one turns around 180 degrees, one sees a hillside that has had a significant slide. It is pretty amazing to see this difference.

Nearshore

Bluff above

Slide above

Empty Q-rat

Hardy souls

Madrona Beach - June 16, 2010

2011-01-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Madrona Beach 2010

The team that showed up for the Madrona Beach monitoring on June 16 proved to be a lot of our Beach Watcher fellows, but only one gal, Beth H. Beth proved worthy of the task of showing the men how to do it well. This beach is always very productive and this year proved to be also. Quadrats were very interesting and the team found a huge variety. Mike F., the team leader, led this group.

Beth searches

Rich quadrat

Madrona Group

Ck out this team!!

Cavalero Beach - June 14, 2010

2011-01-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

Team 2010

Green seaweed

Lowest point

Careful looking!

Special thanks to the leader of this team, Cathy M. who also has done the huge work of putting all the species data into the database.

Elger Bay - June 1, 2010

2011-01-05T19:47:00.000-08:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Elger Bay - June 1, 2010
Finally, a year when the Elger Bay monitoring landed on a sunny day! The shoreline seems to remain about the same. This year there were an abundance of sea stars but the real surprise was on the teal blue glove, seen below.

Sea stars

Searching

Elger Team

New species??

Onamac Beach - May 27, 2010

2011-01-05T19:00:00.000-08:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Onamac Beach
This beach has 2 monitoring lines done in parallel by the Beach Watchers on Camano. Generally the northmost line has more intertidal critters found. This year there was more green seaweed cover than on previous years.

Interesting

Teamwork

Iverson Beach - May 26, 2010

2011-01-05T18:55:00.000-08:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Iverson Beach 2010
This beach was monitored on a day when we could not see across Port Susan. The team trudged out to the lowest tide point wondering if they would be able to see where shore stopped and waters began.

Ugly weather!

Poor views

Cama Beach State Park

2011-01-05T18:32:00.000-08:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Cama Beach intertidal monitoring occurred May 17, 2010

N. Cama Beach

N. line

2010 team

Anemone in Q.

Tasks done

Old Clinton Beach

2010-08-10T20:24:00.000-07:00

Old Clinton Beach team photo 2010

Checking salinity

Profile reading

Chthamalus dalli

Recording data

Checkered periwinkle

Opalescent nudibranch

Eelgrass sea slug

It was an enthusiastic team of five that closed out Whidbey Island's 2010 monitoring season at Old Clinton Beach on August 10th with Virginia Allen at the helm. A thick layer of eelgrass blanketed the lower intertidal and the gung ho monitors carefully sorted through it in search of the small organisms that call this rich habitat home. They were rewarded with the discovery of three species of sea slugs (Phyllaplysia taylori-eelgrass sea slug, Hermissenda crassicornis-opalescent nudibranch, and Onchidoris bilamellata-barnacle eating nudibranch). They also saw quite a few eelgrass limpets (Lottia parallela) and at upper levels of the intertidal zone there were large numbers of little brown barnacles (Chthamalus dalli). With the tide dropping below the -2 foot level, the profile line at this beach extended 410 feet to the water’s edge. This beach is just down from Clinton's ferry landing so the team enjoyed watching the big boats coming and going as they worked. Topping it all off were flybys by pairs of great blue herons, bald eagles, and belted kingfishers.

Ledgewood Beach

2010-08-09T20:18:00.000-07:00

Profiling

Ledgewood Beach Team Photo 2010

Species consultation

Gobiesox

Pisaster ochraceus

Amphipholis sp.

Six Beach Watchers and one neighborhood resident showed up to check out the beach at Ledgewood on the nifty singular date that can be written out as 8/9/10. Three species of seastars were found (mottled, sunflower, and purple) and one species of brittle star (Amphiphois sp.). This was the first time several of the team members had seen a live brittle star so they were quite thrilled by that discovery. A close look at the mottled seastar (Evasterias troschelli) revealed that it packed along a commensal scaleworm. The team also encountered hundreds of tiny Lacuna snails. While Lacuna snails are generally less than a cm. tall, a vast majority of those found at Ledgewood were so small as to be barely discernable as snails. Each of the six quadrats at the +1 foot and 0 tide levels had almost 100% coverage by Ulva sp. To top off the morning, two great blue herons flew past the profile area and loon call was heard.

Possession Point

2010-08-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Upogebia

Possession Point Team Photo 2010

Melibe leonina

Three dedicated Beach Watchers took on Possesion Point on August 9th with Kathy Fritz heading up the team. Kathy reports that the beach had a lush growth of eelgrass and they made some interesting finds including Melibe, the lion nudibranch. This is a strange gelatenous looking organism that makes its home in kelp and eelgrass where it employs a hoodlike apparatus to capture amphipods and other small organisms, the hood functioning somewhat like a Venus flytrap. Another great find was that of a mud shrimp. Team members were rather startled when one of them was dive bombed by a sea gull that dropped a large butter clam on her!

Camano Island State Park - July 14, 2010

2010-07-14T20:29:00.000-07:00

With the completion of monitoring for 2010, Camano Beach Watchers took the time to begin evaluation of data collection. You can find a set of comparisons in CHARTS that are linked at the bottom of the main Intertidal Zone webpage. Take a look at what collected data says about our species gains/losses on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

CISP - 2010

Intertidal Monitoring teams set up lines on both the north and south sides of the State Park boat launch areas. Beach Watchers have been observing for several years the significant differences between the two sides. The "south" side is rather devoid of critters while the "north" side is richer in both seaweeds and sea life. One factor that is introduced here is the wave motion difference between the two sides. Other conclusions are yet to be drawn.

Eagle watching L1

Team searching

Temp supervisor

Isopod

Filament Disposal

Team consensus

Partridge Point

2010-07-13T11:06:00.000-07:00

Partridge Point team photo 2010

Team at work-Partridge Point

Burrowing sea cucumber

Tiny clingfish

Probable Mopalia sp.

Suberities sp.

Blood star

Halichondria

After the cold windy conditions encountered monitoring Rosario Beach, the Partridge Point team was relieved the next day to find that the weather was considerably improved. In fact, it was downright nice as the team of six surveyed that very diverse rocky, high energy west Whidbey beach. They found four species of encrusting sponge (breadcrumb, purple, red, and Suberites), two species of sea stars (blood star and sunflower star), and a nifty large green and gray shrimp. It was unusual that no Leptasterias (six-rayed) sea stars were seen as that species has been a common find on this beach in previous years. Large numbers of little brown barnacles (Cthamalus dalli) were observed on the high intertidal erratic at the start of the profile line and further down, team members were delighted to find numerous tiny northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus) among the kelp. Two unusual finds were those of a small white burrowing sea cucumber of the genus Leptosynaptas and a brightly colored chiton thought to be one of the Mopalias.

Acrosiphonia

Plocamium

Sea laurel

Bossiella

As the tide reached its lowest point (-2.7 feet), an amazing assortment of seaweed was revealed including Osmundia spectabilis (sea laurel), Plocamium sp. (sea comb), Alaria marginata (winged kelp), Egregia menziesii (feather boa kelp), Nereocystis luetkeana (bull kelp), upright and encrusting red coralline algae, and Acrosiphonia sp. (green rope). In addition the seagrass Phyllospadix grew from low intertidal boulders.

Rosario Beach

2010-07-12T21:09:00.000-07:00

All three teams at work

Rosario Beach team photo 2010

Team 1

Team 2

Team 3

Urticina crassicornis

Dwarf chiton

It was a bundled up crew that turned out to monitor Rosario Beach on July 12th. A cold wind stirred up whitecaps and chilled the bones so coats, hats, and even mittens were the order of the day. Those conditions made it hard to believe it was mid-July! Because this beach is bedrock, there is no profile line; instead, 17 quadrats are laid out. Seaweed and animal life within each quadrat’s area are identified and quantified. The eight monitors were divided into three teams, each of which tackled their assigned quadrats. Among the finds were 5 species of barnacles and 4 species of limpets. They counted hundreds of periwinkles and saw Onchidella borealis, a tiny pulmonate sea slug commonly called a leather limpet. In addition they identified Gould’s baby chiton (Lepidochitona sp.) and a dwarf chiton (Leptochiton rugatus). The dwarf chiton was quite an unusual find. Its common name is a good one as their maximum length is only about half an inch. This species is typically whitish in color and found in the very low intertidal zone.

Endocladia muricata

Leathesia

The team also found a diversity of seaweed including rockweed (Fucus sp.), sea moss (Endocladia muricata), and sea cauliflower (Leathesia). Sammye Kempbell is team captain at Rosario.

Honeymoon Bay

2010-07-11T21:23:00.000-07:00

Honeymoon Bay team photo 2010

Black clawed crab

A team of four turned out for Honeymoon Bay on July 11th with Finn Gatewood heading up the team. Using 20 foot sections, they made quick work of the profile line. Along the way they found 3 plainfin midshipmen fish guarding their egg clusters. Those midshipmen fish that guard the egg clusters are typically males that remain for the 15 days it takes for the eggs to hatch and then continue to guard the larvae for about a month until they are mature enough to leave the nest. This team also found an abundance of black clawed crabs (Lophopanopeus bellus). Owners of this beach and a couple of their friends came along for the survey and noted they are beginning to find non-native purple varnish clams showing up along this stretch of the intertidal zone.

Columbia Beach

2010-07-10T11:03:00.000-07:00

Columbia Beach team at work

Working on profile line

Bill and Evelyn Blair put together a team of seven to look at Columbia Beach on July 10th. They found dramatic changes had taken place due to shifting sediments building up the beach. It was especially noticeable against a bulkhead that at one time stood 5 feet above the surface but now only 15 inches of it remains visible above the sand. Drift logs have also washed in and helped to stabilize the new sediment. This in turn has allowed backshore plants to make an appearance. The team found that overall abundance of organisms was down in comparison to previous years including numbers of moonsnails. The most popular critter find of the day was a caprellid amphipod.

North Hastie Lake

2010-06-15T21:11:00.000-07:00

Chthamalus dalli

North Hastie Lake team photo 2010

Anthopleura artemisia

Pisaster ochraceus

Haliclona

Black oystercatcher

Red coralline algae

Costaria costata

Sue Howard put together a team of ten to work at North Hastie Lake on June 14th. In past years, there has been a large pool of water in the mid-intertidal area on this beach. The water drains out as the team works its way down the upper beach and is dry by the time they reach that area. This year, the drainage path had accumulated so much sand, the drainage was blocked and the pool of water remained. Because of this about a quarter of the profile line and the +1 foot quadrats were under up to a foot of water. The team worked their way through the water and did their best under challenging conditions. They still made some good finds including the BB sized little brown barnacle Cthamalus dalli, moonglow anemones, and three species of encrusting sponge (breadcrumb, purple, and red). Other highlights from the day were an aggregating anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima) that appeared to be in the process of dividing, several decorator crabs, a deer seen wandering down the beach, and a small flock of oystercatchers that winged their way by. Quite a variety of seaweeds were seen including red coralline algae, Alaria marginata, and Costaria costata.

West Sunset

2010-06-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

Pisaster ochraceus

West Sunset Beach team photo 2010

Archidoris montereyensis

Here is team captain Charlie Seablom's report from West Sunset Beach: It was a good day to be on the beach. The weather was nice and the second lowest tide of the year – what more could a Beach Watcher ask for? The upper part of the beach has few organisms living there. In the first 110+ feet we saw nothing but amphipods, barnacles, and a couple of limpets. When we got to the big rock it got interesting. It has three kinds of barnacles, tubeworms, ribbon worms, mussels, limpets and more. Farther down the number of species dropped off, but there were a few boulders exposed that had enough stuff to keep us interested. Because of the good weather there were a lot of walkers on the beach. Some of them stopped to ask us what we were doing. One even wanted to get a team photo for herself. The best part was the walk back through the peat beds. Lots of clams had their necks exposed. A sea lemon and a purple Pisaster were found. Eventually we ended up at the starting point and then to home.

Harrington Lagoon

2010-06-14T21:20:00.000-07:00

Looking through the substrate

Harrington Lagoon team photo 2010

Bivalve dig

Recording the data

Sea stars on moon snail egg cases

Moon snail

A team of five hit the beach at Harrington Lagoon on June 14th under the leadership of Liz and Pete Berg. With the tide dropping to the -3.4 foot level, the profile line extended out 340 feet. The surface substrate of this east Whidbey beach is composed primarily of gravel and shell debris. The team found three live moon snails and dozens of their egg collars, some of which had mottled sea stars adhering to their surface. It is uncertain whether the sea stars were feeding on the egg collars or simply wanting something to hold onto. One of the live moon snails had an unlucky littleneck clam engulfed in its massive mantle; a close look revealed the predatory snail was in the process of drilling into the clam.

Pectinaria tube

Pectinaria sp.

Another great find was that of Pectinaria, the ice cream cone worm. This small tube worm builds a unique cone shaped tube with sand grains perfectly butted up against one another. Looking in the end of the tube reveals what appear to be metallic gold eyelashes. Another polychaete, Hemipodis put on quite a show by repeatedly shooting out its large proboscis. The team found so many little Hemigrapsus shore crabs that Pete dubbed beach “crab alley”.

Rolling Hills

2010-06-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Rolling Hills team photo 2010

Nassarius sp.

Green sea urchin

Charlie Seablom had a team of four working on the windy beach at Rolling Hills on June 13. They found four live moon snails (Euspira lewisii) by watching for bulging areas in the substrate, pushed up by the moon snail creeping along just under the surface. The group also found flatworms, purple ribbon worms, several green sea urchins and a small scavenging snail of the genus Nassarius. Charlie reports that his small but experienced team worked efficiently and work went quickly along the 260 foot profile line.

Footprint Rock

2010-06-12T21:23:00.000-07:00

Footprint Rock team photo 2010

Gobiesox meandricus

Charlie Seablom and his Footprint Rock team had a gorgeous sunny day with a million dollar view of the Olympics to enjoy as they hiked along the beach to their monitoring site on June 12th. They did some exploring along the way and caught sight of a bald eagle perched in a tree high on the bluff. Charlie reports that the upper part of the profile line went quickly but slippery Ulva covered rocks slowed things down a bit as they approached the water line. The day's highlights included finding a sea lemon, a northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus), and an inch long wormlike organism thought to be a burrowing anemone. Team members also enjoyed seeing a number of polychaetes and a real variety of seaweeds.

South Lagoon Point

2010-06-11T19:49:00.000-07:00

South Lagoon Point team photo 2010

Great Blue Heron

Look at this

Blood star

Sunflower Star

Paranemertes ingesting polychaete

June 11th was not only Jacques Cousteau’s 100th birthday, it was also our annual beach monitoring day at South Lagoon Point. Libby Hayward coordinated a team of 12 in checking out this rocky beach as the tide receded to the -2.6 foot level. The team included a special guest, a grad student interested in finding out more about monitoring procedures and getting a glimpse of Puget Sound intertidal life. The large number of boulders and erratics all along the profile line and lush eelgrass beds at lower levels support an amazing diversity of species at this beach.

Gould's Baby Chiton

Honkenya

Mossy chiton

Smithora

Team members were unanimous in choosing the discovery of a large purple ribbon worm (Paranemertes peregrina) ingesting an even larger polychaete as the most unique find of the day. They also documented four species of chitons (mossy, Gould’s baby, lined, and gumboot), four species of sea stars (mottled, sunflower, blood, and purple), and five species of anemones (aggregating, moonglow, brooding, white plumed, and Christmas). The eelgrass was veiled by a lush coating of the epiphytic red seaweed Smithora and the beach overall sported quite a variety of green, brown, and red seaweed. Backshore plants included Honkenya and sea rocket. The team worked under dim skies with on again/off again light precipitation as a nearby great blue heron searched among the shallows for small fish.

Double Bluff/Cirque Point

2010-05-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

Christmas anemone

Metridium sp.

Opalescent nudibranch

Libby Hayward and Finn Gatewood brought together a team of eight to check out Double Bluff/Cirque Point on a cold and rainy May 29th. Because of the rainfall, they did not get a team photo but take our word for it, it was a good looking (although slightly soggy) group! This west Whidbey beach has a rocky substrate with numerous boulders both large and small and erratics that are blanketed with life so the team saw and documented a real diversity of organisms. Among the day’s highlights were Christmas (Urticina crassicornis) and white plumed (Metridium sp.) anemones, red sea cucumbers (Cucumaria miniata), and three species of sea stars (mottled, purple, and sunflower). The team also spotted flatworms when they tipped up rocks and Libby Hayward identified Chthamalus dalli, a BB sized species commonly known as “the little brown barnacle”. The most popular find of the day seemed to be a flamboyant inch long opalescent nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis).

Sunlight Beach

2010-05-29T21:19:00.000-07:00

Sunlight Beach team photo 2010

Yellow sand verbena

Team at work

Kristen with moonsnail

Moonsnail

Sunlight Beach was one of two beaches monitored on a very rainy Saturday May 29th. Kristen Cooley assembled a team of 5 to check out that very broad sandy stretch. Four bald eagles and three great blue herons were there to greet the team as they arrived for the day. The backshore of this beach has a nice variety of plants including yellow sand verbena, beach pea, sea rocket, and Elymus mollis, the native dunegrass. Further out they identified moonglow anemones (Anthopleura artemisia), Japanese and native eelgrass, sand dollars (Dendraster excentricus), butter clams, and a plainfin midshipman found when a large piece of wood was tipped up. Two live moonsnails were seen along with numerous egg collars and clam shells with the distinctive moonsnail drill holes The moonsnail victims included several non-native purple varnish clams. There was a diverse community of polychaete worms found including species from the Glyceridae, Maldanidae, Oweniidae, Onuphidae, Capitellidae, and Chaetoperidaye families. As the team wrapped up their work and headed back to their cars, half a dozen Canada geese gave them a send off with a fly by.

South Whidbey State Park

2010-05-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

South Whidbey State Park Team Photo 2010

Red rock crab

Libby Hayward brought a dedicated team of seven to the beach at South Whidbey State Park to work in the drenching downpour on May 28th. The -2.4 tide level made it well worthwhile to brave the elements that day. Charlie Seablom found a freshly molted red rock crab (Cancer productus). Team members gently touched the new exoskeleton and marveled at its softness. Other highlights for the team included a tiny dime sized green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and a northern clingfish. One team member got quite a thrill when a bird landed on his hat!

Coupeville Town Park Beach

2010-05-28T21:24:00.000-07:00

Green sea urchin

Coupeville Town Park Beach team photo 2010

Evasterias troschelii

Nucella snail tied up by byssal threads

Fucus spiralis

Verrucaria (Lichen)

It was a really soggy day. In spite of conditions that had even ducks seeking shelter, avid Beach Watcher John Purcell showed up to help team captain Mary Jo Adams survey Coupeville Town Park Beach on May 28th. This beach has one huge and several less massive erratics located at different intertidal levels and it was on one of those that John spotted a patch of the purple encrusting sponge Haliclona. He also found green sea urchins, several large thatched barnacles, and two mottled sea stars (Evasterias troschelli). Bay mussels had apparently turned the tables on one predatory Nucella snail; it was seen hanging off a rock, bound up by numerous byssal threads and literally hung out to dry. The survey team also identified Fucus spiralis. The blades of this brown seaweed tend to twist as they dry and tiny tufts of hair can be seen dotting their surface. Verrucaria and other lichens were noted on rocky surfaces in the splash zone. It was a fun and interesting day in spite of the trying conditions.

Cornet Bay

2010-05-27T20:01:00.000-07:00

Possible Noctiluca Bloom

Cornet Bay team photo 2010

Brooding anemone on eelgrass

Jingle shell

Brittle star ray

Team Captain Jill Hein brought in a team of five to look at Cornet Bay on May 27th. Two new Beach Watchers from the Class of 2010 took part. In spite of overcast skies and chilly temperatures, they had a good time and saw a nice variety of organisms. In addition to the little Hemigrapsus shorecrabs they found at upper levels, they also documented much larger helmet (Telmessus cheiragonus), Dungeness, and red rock crabs down among the eelgrass. They spotted small brooding anemones (Epiactis sp.) attached directly to the eelgrass and a jingle shell adhered to the inside of an empty cockle shell. The team also noted evidence of brittle stars in an unattached ray that initially had them scratching their heads and wondering if it might be a polychaete. There appeared to be a small Noctiluca (“sea sparkle”) bloom in progress with patches of tomato soup colored water observed.

Freeland Town Park

2010-05-18T20:40:00.000-07:00

Quadrat work

Freeland Park Team Photo 2010

Chaco

Bald eagles

Mopalia lignosa

Profiling the beach

Michele Johnson brought together a team of eight Beach Watchers and one fluffy little dog named Chaco to monitor Freeland Town Park on May 18th. Team members were delighted to find two mature bald eagles perched on pilings along the pier as they arrived at the site. This beach has a quite a lot of barnacle coated cobble higher up along the profile line, then areas of hard clay and large boulders in the middle intertidal, and soft mud in the lower intertidal zone leading to an interesting mix of organisms. Among the day's finds were flatworms, woody chitons (Mopalia lignosa), barnacle eating nudibranchs (Onchidoris bilamellata), ghost shrimp, hermit crabs, and six species of clams with bivalve sampling digs bringing up many non-native purple varnish clams (Nuttallia obscurata).

Hermit crab

Nucella lamellosa

Mussel with drill hole

Frilled dogwinkles (Nucella lamellosa) were abundant and several empty mussel shells had drill marks, evidence that they had become victims of that predatory snail species. It was unusual this year that no moon snails or moon snail egg cases were found. A polychaete nearly a foot long came up when a team member dug into the soft muddy substrate at the -1 foot level. The worm was identified as belonging to the family Nephtyidae and was quite an impressive critter!

Cama Beach State Park

2010-05-17T23:22:00.000-07:00

For 2010 the Camano BW gathered data to produce the charts shown at the bottom of this website page. Take a look at what collected data says about our species on our shorelines. Then enjoy the pictures below from this year's monitoring.

Cama Beach intertidal monitoring occurred May 17, 2010
1252;1253;1254
1255;1256

Double Bluff/Wahl Farm

2010-05-17T20:44:00.000-07:00

Looking for organisms

Double Bluff Wahl Farm team 2010

Checking out quadrat

Bull kelp

Anthopleura artemisia

Iridescent seaweed

Double Bluff /Wahl Farm is one of the richest and most diverse beaches on Whidbey Island's annual monitoring schedule. Team captain Kathy Fritts gathered a team of seven to conduct its yearly examination on May 17th . With the tide falling to -2.7 feet, the team was rewarded with some fascinating organisms including 5 species of anemones, 5 species of barnacles, and 3 species of sea stars. Quite a variety of kelps and other seaweeds were also documented including bull kelp, iridescent seaweed (Mazzaella splendens), Sargassum muticum (wireweed), and Ralfsia (sea fungus).

Cucumaria miniata

Rough piddock

Opalescent nudibranch

Tanker

When asked about highlights, team members picked the opalescent nudibranchs, red sea cucumbers, brittle stars, and numerous rough piddocks that were bored into the hard clay substrate. Massive tankers and container ships passed by as the team worked and a young bald eagle watched from the top of a tree snag on a nearby bluff. What a fun day!

Maxwelton Tidepools

2010-05-16T18:48:00.000-07:00

Northern horsemussel

California mussel

Red sea cucumber

Sabellid tubeworm tubes

Maxwelton Tidepool team photo 2010

Bivalve dig

Maxwelton team profiling

Team captain Tillie Scruton assembled a team of six to look at the Maxwelton Tidepools on May 16th . Whoever Tillie put in charge of weather did a great job as it was a beautiful day. This beach has a short stretch of cobble followed by a substrate composed mostly of sand along the profile line. A massive erratic is set in the sand about 200 feet from the start point and it is loaded with life. This year its inhabitants included red sea cucumbers (Cucumaria mineata), sabellid tubeworms, and surprisingly, northern horsemussels (Modiolus modiolus), a species rarely encountered on Whidbey Island. Another unusual find on the big rock was that of a large California mussel. Several kelp crabs (Pugettia productus) had taken refuge along the base of the erratic and it also served as an attachment point for a dozen strands of bull kelp.

Pratt's Bluff

2010-05-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Metridium sp.

Harbor seal

Paintbrush

Team photo Pratt's Bluff 2010

Finn Gatewood led a team of nine at Pratt's Bluff on May 16th. After a long hike down the beach under beautiful blue skies the team went to work finding flatworms, barnacle eating nudibranchs with egg masses, and a large white plumed anemone (Metridium sp.). In addition to the intertidal invertebrates, they also spotted three great blue herons, a bald eagle, two harbor seals that had hauled out nearby for an afternoon of sunning, and paintbrush blooming along the bluff.

Ala Spit

2010-05-14T20:28:00.001-07:00

Charlie gives an explanation

Taking a profile reading

Ala Spit team photo 2010

3-rayed seastar

Haliplanella lineata

Eelgrass

Lugworm fecal spiral

Sammye Kempbell's Ala Spit team hit the beach on May 14th when the tide fell back to -2.3 feet. Half of the team was made up of brand new Beach Watchers from the class of 2010 working on their very first monitoring project. They were eager to learn and bursting with enthusiasm. Highlights for the day included digging up a lugworm after finding a hole in the sand marked with the characteristic "cake decorator" fecal spiral, the discovery of a crescent gunnel that had taken refuge under an empty clam shell, and a mottled sea star (Evasterias troschelli) with only three full rays and 2 buds that marked the emergence of replacements for the two that were missing. A polychaete from the family Glyceridae entertained the team everting its massive proboscis and one of the new folks surprised even herself with the utterance that "Worms are fun!" The tiny anemone Haliplanella lineata was also found as were pickleweed and the native eelgrass, Zostera marina. A Skagit County Beach Watcher came by and said hello as he hiked along the spit working on his COAST bird survey. It was a fun day of sunshine and discovery!

Crescent Harbor

2010-05-01T15:46:00.000-07:00

Crescent Harbor monitoring team photo 2010

Young bald eagle at Crescent Harbor

Jim records data

Evasterias troschelii

Onchidoris with eggs

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis

The tide level fell to -2 feet on May 1st as a small but dedicated veteran team checked out Crescent Harbor. Three Beach Watchers took part and one high school student was recruited to help as he hiked along the beach near the start point. More than 50 species were identified including opalescent, barnacle eating (Onchidoris bilamellata), and shaggy mouse nudibranchs, mottled sea stars (Evasterias troschelli), and green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis). The high school student quickly caught on to the profiling procedure and appeared surprised by the diversity of the beach. A bald eagle kept a stern eye on the proceedings while perched in a tree on a nearby bluff while two Canada geese and a great blue heron did flybys.

Langley Seawall

2010-04-29T14:39:00.000-07:00

Profiling

Langley Seawall Monitoring Team photo 2010

Whale feeding pits on beach

Ghost shrimp with copepods

The 2010 Whidbey Island beach monitoring season hit the starting gate on April 29th with first time team captain Vickie Chapman heading up the Langley Seawall team. Charlie Seablom and four brand new Class of 2010 Beach Watchers joined the expedition and saw a real variety of species. As small boulders were tipped up, flatworms, polychaetes, and Oregon shore crabs were revealed. Moving along into the broad stretch of sandy beach, the team found ghost shrimp with egg masses and the tiny red copepod Clausidium vancouverence tucked beneath the carapace. Numerous gray whale feeding pits were evidence that the big baleen cetaceans are also aware of the presence of ghost shrimp.

Phyllaplysia

What's this?

Aglaja ocelligera

Checking out Pycnopodia

Further out, the -2.4 tide rolled back to expose patches of eelgrass with the rich variety of fauna that it supports. A close look revealed caprellid amphipods, isopods of the genus Idotea, eelgrass sea slugs (Phyllaplysia taylori) and the nudibranch relative Aglaja diomedea, and three sunflower stars (Pycnopodia helianthoides).

Utsalady Beach - August 18, 2009

2009-08-31T21:12:00.001-07:00

Team searching

Locating reference pt for line

Limpets, mussels, & barnacles

What a contrast to our survey in 2008: bright sunshine, warm enough for shirts, and Mt. Baker visible in the distance with many boats anchored offshore! Thirteen Beach Watchers turned out at 8:00 AM to support our beach captain Pam C. lay out the line and 9 quadrats for our monitoring exercise. There was a -2.3 ft. tide expected at 9:41 AM. This year we found the beach in slightly better condition than before, although there are still very large pockets dug in the ground - clam digging - in the areas where we place our quadrat squares. Some of these are hidden by seaweed and become dangerous for walking.

Quadrat high on the Intertidal

Quadrat low on the Intertidal

Most notable this year were the large number of giant Idotea spp. (referred to as seaweed isopods) found in colonies, large numbers of mussels, Mytilus trossulus, and limpets, predominately Tectura persona, on the rocks and many egg masses on rocks between Balanus barnacles. Pete D. found a fish which he photographed for study. The team did not see many chitons or anemone and there were no seastars at all.

Huge Isopods

Details of 1 Isopod

Monitoring team 2009

After the monitors completed their tasks we were treated to brunch at the picnic area by Pam C. and Candy T. Thanks to all those who came to support this event, Pete D. s family for joining us and Pam C. for hosting. Pictures were provided by Pete D. and Judi McD.

Utsalady Beach - August 18, 2009

2009-08-31T21:12:00.000-07:00

Team searching

Locating reference pt for line

Limpets, mussels, & barnacles

What a contrast to our survey in 2008: bright sunshine, warm enough for shirts, and Mt. Baker visible in the distance with many boats anchored offshore! Thirteen Beach Watchers turned out at 8:00 AM to support our beach captain Pam C. lay out the line and 9 quadrats for our monitoring exercise. There was a -2.3 ft. tide expected at 9:41 AM. This year we found the beach in slightly better condition than before, although there are still very large pockets dug in the ground â€“ clam digging - in the areas where we place our quadrat squares. Some of these are hidden by seaweed and become dangerous for walking.

Quadrat high on the Intertidal

Quadrat low on the Intertidal

Huge Isopods

Details of 1 Isopod

Monitoring team 2009

Cavalero Beach, June 23, 2009

2009-08-28T20:29:00.000-07:00

Beth & Pete Investigating

Monitoring Team

All rocks are unique

Lowest pt of tide - clay

quadrats in seaweed

Using the Ez-Id Guide

An enthusiastic group of twelve Beach Watchers and guest volunteer, Bill Blandin, gathered at just before 10:00 am on the 23rd day of June at Cavalero Beach to perform Intertidal Monitoring. It was a pleasant dry day with temperatures in the mid to upper 50s. The group led by Cathy surveyed a single profile line with 24 segments out to -3.9 feet low tide level, and layed-out/evaluated nine quadrats.

The beach profile vertical height (VH) of 5.7 ft. was the lowest measured to date at this beach. The VH was measured as 7.1 ft. in 2008 and 7.8 ft. during 2007. These measurements seem reflective of a losing trend for substrate on this beach. Dissimilar to previous years about half the survey segments included clay/silt and about a quarter included ground shell materials. In previous years these substrate were mostly lacking on this beach. Marine organism variety and abundance was up from the 2007 levels and 2008 levels.

New information collected in the profile line in 2007 and this year for tracking of certain invertebrate allowed us to determine that the main species for barnacles was Balanus, for crabs was Hemigrapsus, and for snails was Littorina.

Invertebrates found included amphipods, anemones, arachnid, barnacles, crabs, fish, insects, isopods, jellies, limpets, mussels, polychaete, ribbon worms, snails, and bald eagles. Seaweed found included green, red and brown. One especially enjoyable find for monitors included the Haliplanella lineata, the lined anemone. This is a relatively uncommon anemone and its small size makes it hard to spot. When closed up, it is only about 1/4 inch in diameter. Haliplanella lineata is thought to have been introduced to the West Coast of North America about a hundred years ago when Pacific oysters were brought in.

We ended a successful monitoring event with a group photo and a picnic in the Park.
Written by Cathy M. with pictures provided by B. Blandin and J. McDougall.

Mabana Beach - August 20, 2009

2009-08-20T22:59:00.000-07:00

Establishing monitoring line

Extremely gradual beach

Beach Watcher Team

Pete mired in sand

Boots sinking!

Pulling out of sand

Led by Barbara B. we had a team of 7 Beach Watchers and one friend, photographer Bill B., hike down to this sandy beach at 9:00 AM to work our way out to a low tide of -1.5 ft. at 11:20 AM. This beach is a very long, gradual beach that gets sandier as one goes to low tide, and is noted for capturing our shoes and boots as we plod out. This year was no exception! It is a true tide flat. Because of its long length, we did traverse the middle areas in larger line increments in order to get out to the low tide edge.

Lions mane jelly

What was found on this date were many areas of sand with many holes among it; however, only one ghost shrimp was found during numerous bivalve digs, although the group felt they might have been the makers of these holes. The small commensurate clam, Cryptomya californica, was plentiful in the bivalve digs. A beautiful jelly, a Lions mane (Cyanea capillata), was found just outside of our 20 ft. line width, and also dungeness crab, several of which were totally buried in the sand. Overall, fewer species were found than in former years. Notably reduced to just a few small ones were the sand dollars. It was speculated that fewer ghost shrimp might be attributed to warmer days and it is certain that less food available means fewer gray whales will be feeding at this beach in the spring.

Barbara collected our Beach Watcher back data in an effort to look at trends for this beach. As discussed by our group that day, probably the most notable thing was the absence of a larger number of species previously noted, and a seeming decrease in other species. While no conclusions were drawn, Barbara expressed that there is a need to standardize the taking of water temperature and salinity readings (reading done an exact distance from start point) to see if there is any correlation between these and species depletion.
Thanks to Barbara for hosting the final gathering afterwards and Bill B. for his much appreciated photography. Co-written by Barbara B. and Judi McD.

Sunny Shores - August 19, 2009

2009-08-19T23:52:00.000-07:00

Searching in sand

Sheila digging down deep

Team searching for critters

We met at 8:30 am by Sally Goodson's garage to do our annual intertidal monitoring of Sunny Shores, this date August 19, 2009. Present were Pete D., Lynn R., Judi McD., Carol G., Sheila M., and Bill B. to support this event. We were led by beach captain Skip I. We located our starting point and sighted the landmark dock at Kayak Point on the opposite shore. Following are the critters list found and the general conditions of this year.

Erosion of the beach which is the fore foot of the bluff is negligible to unnoticeable from previous years. Within the first 60 feet, which is a mix of sand, gravel, and cobble we found amphipods, anemone, barnacles, clams, crabs (Hemigrapsus), limpets, isopods, mussels, and segmented worms (Polychaetes). Sea weeds were mostly of the green varieties with some brown in limited evidence.

Eagle watching us

Very small shrimp found

The next 300 feet, out to as far as one could go, to the edge of the receding tide, is all sand with some silt mixed in. This area is pocketed with clam and ghost shrimp holes; digging produced some samples of these two. The day was sunny and warm, and there were eagles, crows, and gulls present. We completed our line with the low tide of -2.0 at 10:23 am. Folks gathered afterwards for refreshments after returning up the bank.

One interesting sight was noted by all. On the next beach to the South of Sunny Shores we saw an interesting structure in the very low tide area. Pete walked over to investigate and reported that some large diameter plastic pipe inserted into the bottom was supporting the mesh bags that are used to raise shellfish. He said he could see oysters in the bags. This looked like a creative solution to avoid having the bags covered with silt at various stages of the tides. Skip promised to find out which neighbor has this installation and find out how successful it has been. This new beach activity emphasizes the importance of monitoring on a regular basis.

Thanks to Skip I. for this report and Bill B. and Judi McD. for the photos.

Old Clinton Beach-August 19, 2009

2009-08-19T15:24:00.000-07:00

Team works profile line

I found a nudibranch!

Old Clinton Beach team photo 2009

August 19th brought a bright sunny day with temperatures well into the 70’s and a -2.3 foot tide. Team captain Evelyn Blair provided leadership as six Beach Watcher women took on Old Clinton Beach, the final Whidbey Island beach to be monitored for the 2009 season. This group had a great time searching through the eelgrass beds for the small organisms that make this habitat their home. The ladies were delighted to find a dozen or more opalescent nudibranchs (Hermissenda crassicornis) and one lion nudibranch (Melibe leonina). They also saw moonglow and white plumed anemones and the very wiggly inch and a half long polychaete Ophiodromus pugettensis. Evelyn noted that one surprise this year was that no moon snails or moon snail egg collars were found. As the team collected data, a great blue heron winged its way by and greeted them with its distinctive raucous call. It was a great way to wrap up the season!

Double Bluff/Cirque Point-July 23, 2009

2009-07-29T20:37:00.000-07:00

Double Bluff Cirque Point team 2009

Checking under rocks

Cirque Point quadrat work

Lined chiton

Blood star

Evasterias troschelii

Eleven Beach Watchers and two guests looked over Double Bluff Cirque Point on July 23rd with Libby Hayward heading up the team. It appeared that a large area of the tall bluff had slumped near the start point with the resulting glacial till debris in a pile at the base. The profile line proceeded through a rocky area then into a short stretch of sand before mixed size rocks resumed. The real star of the show was a bright red bloodstar that was seen clinging to a cobble along the profile line. The team was also delighted to find orange sea cucumbers peeking out from under boulders at the low tideline. Other highlights were piles of Evasterias sea stars, a long rayed brittle star, barnacle eating nudibranchs with their egg ribbons, and lined chitons.

Partridge Point-July 22, 2009

2009-07-22T20:15:00.000-07:00

Chthamalus dalli

Partridge Point team photo 2009

Stalked jelly

Katharina tunicata

Epiactis sp.

Porcelain crab

Jan Holmes put together an enthusiastic team of nine to study Partridge Point on July 22nd. Betty Brosheim, from the WA Dept. of Natural Resources and who is involved in establishing a new marine reserve area that will border the west side of Whidbey Island, accompanied the team and got a good overview of what beach monitoring is all about. The late morning low tide plunged to -3.2 feet revealing the truly remarkable diversity of this beach; a diversity that was reflected at the end of the day by a species list comprised of 75 invertebrates, fish, and seaweeds.

Among the highlights were stalked jellies and 4 species of anemones ranging in size from the little brooding anemone (Epiactis sp.-diameter to 2 inches) to the much larger Christmas anemone (Urticina crassicornis-diameter to 10 inches). Flossie Pearson got a kick out of the sight of a large hermit crab toting around a shell that was much too small to accommodate its body. The team also encountered black katy chitons (Katharina tunicata), porcelain crabs (Petrolisthes sp.), and little brown barnacles (Cthamalus dalli). Bob Gentz brought his new waterproof camera and got photos of any critter that would hold still long enough for him to snap the shutter.

Honeymoon Bay-July 22, 2009

2009-07-22T20:04:00.000-07:00

Honeymoon Bay team photo 2009

Plainfin midshipman

Honeymoon Bay team at work

Checking elevation change

Recording data-Honeymoon Bay

Finn Gatewood promised her team sunshine on monitoring day at Honeymoon Bay and although it made a late appearance, it finally showed up! This six member team worked on July 22nd and enjoyed a -3.5 foot tide. The group was made up primarily of brand new Beach Watchers and they found a nice variety of species and did a great job. The highlight of the day for everyone was the discovery of 3 plainfin midshipmen fish (Porichthys notatus) under intertidal boulders as they guarded their eggs. They also saw a good sized lion’s mane jellyfish that had stranded on the rocks and found several purple ribbon worms (Paranemertes peragrina). A kingfisher, a bald eagle, and a great blue heron conducted flyovers as the team worked.

Camano Island State Park - July 21, 2009

2009-07-21T23:20:00.000-07:00

SEE A MELIBE LEONINA MOVIE - ATTACHED BELOW!

Three profile lines were run, in this third year of monitoring at Camano State Park. Profile #1, located 150 feet north of the northern edge of the boat ramp was performed on July 21st, while the other two profiles were run a day earlier. Profile #2, occurred 15 feet north of the northern edge of the boat ramp and Profile #3 was performed 15 feet from the southern edge of the boat ramp. Twelve Beach Watchers and one guest, led by John C. monitored Profile #1 out to 150 feet, to the -3.3 foot low tide mark. Profiles #2 and #3 went out 124 and 112 feet, respectively, to the -2.9 foot low tide mark. Profiles #2 had nine Beach Watchers led by John C. while Profile #3 led by Duane H. had seven Beach Watchers.

Line south of CISP dock

Kelp holdfast

Control monitoring team

As seen in 2007 and 2008, species found within Profile #1 were very diverse including anemone, arachnid, barnacles, clams, crabs, isopods, limpets, nudibranch, polychaete, shrimp, snails, green and red seaweed and seagrass. However, this year, species density for barnacles at the zero foot tide level ranged from 25 to 34%, a dramatic increase from 0 to 1% in 2008 and 6 to 7% in 2007. Newly found this year was the sea star Dermasterias imbricata. This "Leather star" is a large sea star that can grow to a diameter of 10 inches. Its 5 rays are thick and smooth which some describe as wet suede leather. The color of this species is generally blotchy reddish brown. This sea star prefers a diet of sea anemones, but also feeds on urchins, sponges and bryozoans. It is found from the low intertidal zones to a depth of over 300 feet and has a preference for higher energy beaches. The sea star, Evasterias troschelii, identified in 2007 was not seen this year or in 2008. Also bryozoans were missing this year.

Dermasterias imbricata

Herring eggs on kelp

Lg hermit crab w/o shell

Diverse species continued to be found in Profile #2, including clams, crabs, amphipods, arachnid, barnacles, mussels, sea stars, snails, polychaete, green seaweed and seagrass. Chitons and brown seaweed were missing this year. Though the sea star, Pisaster ochraceus identified in 2008, was not found this year, the sea star, Evasterias troschelii was found. This sea star has five rays and commonly grows to about 12 inches in diameter. Color is quite variable and its range includes gray, gray-green, brown, and even reddish (but not bright purple). Its colors may be mottled and are often rather drab. Evasterias likes the calmer waters of protected area. Evasterias preys on mussels, barnacles, limpets, snails, and other invertebrates.

Opalescent nudibranch

Opalescent, Hooded & Barnacle eating

Plainfin midshipman

Profile #3 also continued to be diverse this year. The sea cucumber, Parastichopus californicus was missing this year. The jellyfish, Cyanea capillata and the nudibranch, Onchidoris bilamellata were newly found this year. This is a small nudibranch that reaches a maximum length of only about 1 inch. Onchidoris bilamellata is cream colored with brown or red-brown blotches and has a knobby texture. While juveniles of this species feed on encrusting bryozoans, adults prey on acorn barnacles. It can be found on rocks and pilings from the low intertidal to water 60 feet deep. Another common name for it is the rough mantled doris.
The nudibranch, Triopha catalinae found in 2008 was also missing. There was less red seaweed, no brown seaweed, and a significant decrease in Ulva at all tide levels.

A rare treat for the bio-surveyors at CISP's "control" profile today (north of the boat launch) was the appearance of a myriad of hooded nudibranchs, Melibe leonina. This critter has been rarely seen by Beach Watchers. On this date you could easily have seen several dozen in many sizes up to about 3-4" long. They were in shallow water in the thick eelgrass bed. Bill B. captured the characteristic flip-flopping swimming motion of these nudibranchs in a short movie and it is presented below for you. To see it you will need a high-speed computing connection. Click on the Melibe picture and enjoy.

Melibe

Short movie of a Melibe leonina in motion

copyright 2009@ Bill Blandin

All 3 monitoring teams deserve lots of thanks for this survey. Cathy M. is to be thanked for collating the profile changes you are reading about, John C. and Judi McD. for their photos, and Bill B. for his excellent movie of the Melibe.

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For those interested in a little more information, the following information was found in a web article by Dave Cowles of Walla Walla University.

This nudibranch (Melibe) is unusual in several ways. It doesn't have a radula but its oral veil is expanded hugely into a hood which it extends ahead of itself and uses to trap small crustaceans and other prey. Its diet includes copepods, amphipods, and ostracods, as well as small post-larval mollusks. It feeds by attaching itself to a substrate (often a blade of eelgrass) and expanding the oral hood. It then sweeps the hood left and right or downward. When the inner surface of the hood comes in contact with a small animal the hood rapidly closes and the fringing tentacles overlap, holding the prey in. The whole animal is then forced into the nudibranch's mouth. Predators include the kelp crab Pugettia producta. Pycnopodia helianthoides (our voracious sunflower seastar) is repelled from contact. A polychaete scaleworm is sometimes a symbiont, feeding on fecal pellets. Sometimes Melibes may symbiotic algae in their bodies.

Possession Point-July 21, 2009

2009-07-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

Possession Point team photo 2009

Jim Shelver had a team of eight humans and one pug show up to survey the beach at Possession Point on July 21st. They found lots of eelgrass to explore and discovered many of the fascinating community of organisms that inhabit eelgrass beds. Numerous eelgrass sea slugs (Phyllaplasia taylori) were reported, including three in one quadrat. This species is so well camouflaged that a sharp eye is needed to detect it. The team also found eelgrass limpets (Lottia parallela), moonglow anemones (Anthopleura artemisia), and Smithora (commonly called red fringe) which is a red algae that grows on eelgrass as an epiphyte.

Cornet Bay - July 21, 2009

2009-07-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

Cornet Bay team photo 2009

Cornet Bay team at work

Blue Heron canoe

Caprellid amphipod

Mass of caprellid amphipods

Melibe

Heather Leahy-Mack led a team of four people and one Labrador retriever at Cornet Bay on July 21st. This is a soft sediment beach near the Deception Pass Bridge and has been a bit barren for the past couple of years after construction of a nearby boat ramp seemed to impact the area. This year however, lush eelgrass beds covered the lower intertidal and were teeming with caprellid amphipods (skeleton shrimp). Caprellids somewhat resemble praying mantises but move about inchworm fashion. The word that captures the essence of these tiny threadlike crustaceans most accurately is “strange”. The team also discovered a large and apparently well fed lion nudibranch (Melibe leonina) among the eelgrass. While most nudibranchs have a radula that they use to scrape food from the substrate, Melibe has a hood-like structure that it uses like a net to capture small prey including caprellid amphipods. One other great find was that of the long armed brittle star, Amphiodia occidentalis.
As the team finished up, they began hearing a haunting flute melody. As it turned out, the music was part of the send off for a group of three adults and several young people from the Duwamish and other tribes who were setting out on a tribal journey in a large canoe named the Blue Heron. The group got the canoe in the water, sang their paddling song, said a prayer to the spirits, and then pushed off to begin their journey. They told us they planned to paddle around the Deception Pass area for a day and then head up into the San Juan Islands.

Columbia Beach - July 20, 2009

2009-07-20T19:21:00.000-07:00

Team captain lays out quadrat

Columbia Beach Team photo 2009

Moon snail

Columbia Beach team at work

Bill and Evelyn Blair had the eight member Columbia Beach team out on July 20th. Weather for the day was gorgeous and the tide fell below the -3 foot level. The team had a glorious view as Washington State Ferry boats kept their schedule between Clinton and Mukilteo and a U.S. Navy ship sailed by. Team members were astounded by the changes in this beach. A large berm consisting of sand and gravel has been building over the past year or so. For the first time ever, all three +1 foot quadrats were covered with gravel with no organisms being identified in them except for a few minute quantities of Ulva. Several moonsnails were seen as they plowed along the surface and many of their distinctive egg collars lay scattered on the beach. Jean Sommers wondered about an irregularly shaped light brown object she spotted on the sand and it turned out to be the operculum from a moonsnail. The team also found organisms common in eelgrass beds including tiny Lacuna snails and even tinier Caprellid amphipods. As the team wound up their work, a hungry osprey arrived, hovered for a moment then swooped down to snatch a fish out of the water with its talons.

Madrona Beach - June 24, 2009

2009-06-24T21:33:00.000-07:00

Madrona B. Team

Heart Cockle

Typical rock wt. critters

Large chiton

Nudibranch & seastar

Two seastars

On the morning of June 24, eleven hearty Beach Watchers braved the rain and strong winds to conduct the Madrona Beach monitoring where a -3.6 tide was expected at 12:35 PM. The crew included Jack P, Judi M., Dave B, Linda B, Shirley C, Alex K, Beth H, Bill B, Pat B, Pete D., and Mike F. captain. Among the most interesting critters found near the low tide line were a large cockle (Clinocardium nutiallii), large groupings of nudibranchs (Onchidoris bilamellata) and their eggs, one rock of which was being shared by a seastar, a quite large Mossy chiton (Mopalia muscosa) and, under one rock, several small seastars (Pisaster ochracaus) that seemed to have ended their dueling with a handshake. There seemed to be a vast amount of nudibranchs among the seaweed covered rocks, more than we remembered from previous years.

quadrat inspections

Team searchers

Pete doing H2O quality tests

The quadrats were lean this year, predominately filled with green seaweed, but few critters out at the depth they were laid and one quadrat was sitting over a flowing stream of water revealing little. But in general, the beach proved to be healthy and teaming with Salish Sea shore life. Pete D., monitoring leader for Camano Is, took the opportunity to take water quality samples from Madrona Beach to be tested in lab. This beach is done by Pete on a regular basis.

As the team neared completion a light rain began and the group were glad to be done. Members retired to Mike F. home for snacks and talks. Thanks to Mike for hosting and for all who came.
Pictures provided by B. Blandin and J. McDougall.

North Hastie Lake-June 24, 2009

2009-06-24T09:52:00.000-07:00

North Hastie Lake team photo 2009

Harlequin ducks

Team crossing pool

Gobiesox meandricus

Purple ribbon worm ingesting polychaete

Stalked jelly

The North Hastie Lake team was not deterred by a little wind and rain on June 24th. Team captain Sue Howard put together a team of eleven and they stuck with it even after the skies opened up. With a -3.5 foot tide, the monitoring crew had a lot of beach to explore and they made some great finds. One exciting highlight was turning over a rock to discover a purple ribbon worm (Paranemertes peregrina) devouring a large polychaete. The team also encountered caprellid amphipods, quite a number of stalked jellies, and a northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus). The little clingfish is well named. Its pelvic fins have adapted to form a suction cup-like disk that helps it adhere to the rocks that it takes refuge under. Several color spattered harlequin ducks were spotted riding the swells just out from the beach as the team worked.

Maxwelton Tide Pools-June 23, 2009

2009-06-23T19:59:00.001-07:00

Maxwelton Tidepool team along profile line

Team photo Maxwelton Tidepools 2009

Maxwelton Tidepool team looks under chunk of peat

Sand lance

Pycnapodia

Maxwelton Tidepools beach was not monitored last year but Linda and Mac LaMay stepped up to serve as team captains there this year and did a terrific job in their new role. The weather cooperated with beautiful sunny skies and the tide fell to the -3.8 feet mark resulting in a profile line that stretched out over 800 feet. The team of seven encountered a massive chunk of peat and pried one side of it up to discover the mother lode of hermit crabs hiding beneath it along with several colorful gunnel eels. They also found a sunflower star (Pycnapodia helianthoides), a pygmy rock crab (Cancer oregonensis), and hundreds of sand lances (Ammodytes hexapterus) that had emerged from their hiding places in the sand only to be faced with a dry beach and hordes of very hungry (and also very lucky) sea gulls. One additional highlight was the preformance of some spectacular aerobatics during a flyover by two juvenile bald eagles.

Elger Bay - June 22, 2009

2009-06-22T23:25:00.000-07:00

Elger Bay monitor team

Young helper Anna

Quadrat inspection

A dedicated crew of 13 Camano Beach Watchers plus 3 guests enjoyed a morning on the beach during the Elger Bay monitoring of June 22. The weather was a bit overcast which kept things cool, but we were not sprinkled with rain. Tina Dinzl-Pederson, Interpretive Specialist of Cama Beach State Park, joined the Beach Watchers for the bio-survey and we enlisted her help recording data on a clipboard. Pat F. brought along her granddaughter, Anna. Bill B. was a champion with the survey lines and laying out the quadrats for us.

mussel & chiton

seastar & crab

sea urchin

creosote log removal

Near the end of the monitoring an adult bald eagle did a fairly close and low fly-by out over the water. In the nearby estuary to the east, the Department of Natural Resources were conducting creosote log removal by helicopter.

Semibalanus cariousus

Large limpets & barnacles

Many species on rock

A photo taken by John C. showed a barnacle species that had not been identified at Elger Bay in previous survey sessions. Mary Jo Adams, our Whidbey focal, reviewed the photo and believes the rock had three species on it-- the two common Balanus sp. and a few Semibalanus cariousus.

Pacific oyster

Pete D. provided a bit of detail from the session: ''We saw a diverse representation of healthy beach flora and fauna. Among many species, we saw a 'surprise' Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas).'' This lone find was 4 inches long and was covered with barnacles.

Thanks to Alice B., beach captain, for this report and B. Blandin, J. Custer, and J. McDougall for the photos.

South Lagoon Point-June 22, 2009

2009-06-22T20:27:00.006-07:00

Looking for organisms

Team photo South Lagoon Point 2009

The tide dropped to the -3.8 foot level on June 22nd and Libby Hayward had the South Lagoon Point team hard at work seeking out data for that beach. And they found a lot! This team identified more than 80 species. Highlights for the day included the discovery of an in the process of splitting in two, watching a , and finding a live Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) adhering to a boulder in the low intertidal zone. They also spied and an . Pigeon guillemots were bobbing in the water just beyond the low tideline while a kept a wary eye on the group. To top it all off, red paintbrush was spotted growing high on the bluff above the beach.

Pebble Beach - June 9, 2009

2009-06-09T19:38:00.000-07:00

Shore crab with clam

Pete verifying critter

Cobbled shoreline

A great day for doing intertidal bio-monitoring! Sunny, beautiful and a low tide of -1.7 at 12:33 PM, Beach Watchers arrived at 10:30 AM near the south end of Camano Is to one of our more unique settings, hosted by Derek W. This beach monitoring line begins immediately at the base of a high bluff area with several homes tucked in to its edge. The line going out marches through dense cobbles, to sands and cobbles, and finally to just sand. At the shore edge there is a lot of green seaweed, but this year, not very many of the expected low intertidal species. Getting to the low shore, one goes through areas of active clams, many crabs, large numbers of limpets and snails, and lines of seaweeds and mussels all intertwined.
This year, there were fewer species found among the rocks, but the barnacles were dense in some areas. And many periwinkles were found in apparent colonies of new, tiny ones; these included the Littorina scutulata and the Littorina sitkana. In 2008 we saw many sea stars, but this year we found only a few small ones and only in the last few sections we found many anemones but almost all were closed up and thus un-identifiable. A total of 32 species were found; the numbers of Barnacle-eating nudibranch (Onchidoris bilamellata) were many and their eggs coated huge areas.

Recent slide

End of the line

Onchidoris bilamellata

Onchidoris eggs

Nudibranchs & eggs

A recent hill slide occurred here and it is interesting to ponder its impact on this area. Located just north of our start line, its rock and soils should have drifted northward, away from the monitoring line. Pictures were taken to record these changes. Afterwards the group gathered at the picnic table of our host to relax and enjoy their gardens which thrive at sea level. Thanks to all who came for the monitoring and to our gracious hosts.

Pictures by J. Custer and J. McDougall and G. Pence; article by Judi

English Boom - June 8, 2009

2009-06-08T20:04:00.000-07:00

Haliplanella

Lugworm 4 in long

Lugworm - another view

This beach on the south shore of Skagit Bay used to be characterized by boot-removing mud and a rapidly spreading Spartina meadow. Over the last few years the Spartina has largely disappeared (due to aggressive treatment by the State). The remaining Spartina hummocks have been colonized by beach arrowgrass and Fucus sp. The mud however remains. This beach is also home to a colony of purple martins, the largest swallow in North America, who use nest boxes attached to the old logging pilings.
Survey results were similar to last year in terms of species present along the profile and in the quadrats. This is not a beach where we find a lot of different species within the boundaries of the profile. This year 21 different plants and animals were identified which is up a few from last year. Although never abundant, there were no limpets found this year. We did find many small lined anemones, Haliplanella lineata.
The big discovery of the day was a lugworm, a polychaete, which Mary Jo has been trying for years to get a good picture of. (The English Boom lugworm will probably be appearing soon among the EZ ID photos on the Beach Watchers website for Island Co.)
One final note: No intertidal Spartina was seen this year in the area near the profile, but behind the storm berm there is a small lagoon in which a 2-3 year old clone of Spartina was discovered. It was removed.

BW Monitoring Group

New species found

And last but not least, John was happy to report that no BWs were lost to the killer mud this year and they didn't even break out the Muck-O-Lids. Thanks to John C. for this report and his excellent pictures. And Mary Jo Adams sent over a great one of the mentioned lugworm, as seen above. Note also that there was a new strange species found on this beach -- by the name of Bridger - also seen above!

Iverson Beach - June 6, 2009

2009-06-06T21:55:00.000-07:00

Iverson upper beach

Iverson Lookout

Iverson monitoring team

The intertidal bio-monitoring of Iverson Beach was held on a Saturday, June 6, 2009, in conjunction with The Wonders of Iverson program on Camano Island, a Beach Watcher event, so that interested folks who came to explore the estuary area at Iverson Beach could also join Beach Watchers and see what monitoring was all about. It was a beautiful, partly sunny day and 12 Beach Watchers participated.

Mussels abound

Seaweed and mud!

purple varnish clam shell

This beach is located on the most northerly shore of Port Susan Bay where there is little movement of water and the tide goes out a long way because of the gentle slope. From the starting point we went out 550 feet to a low tide of -1.7 ft. We did not find many new creatures; it is predominantly sand, but at about -0. we found a broad swath of land (50 feet deep and several hundred feet long) covered with small rock and loads of mussels, Mytilus trossulus. Beth H., captain of this beach, looked up the records for last year and green seaweed was noted in this area, but no mussels. We thought this was strange and will hope to look at it during the year. We also found one Purple varnish clam, Nuttallia obscurata, which is an invasive species and which although no longer alive worried our Beach Watcher monitoring leader, Pete D., since its presence indicates their possible arrival to this area. Thanks to captains Donna W. and Beth H. for hosting this beach and to Bill B. and Judi McD. for pictures.

Footprint Rock-May 28, 2009

2009-05-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

Black oystercatcher

Footprint Rock team photo 2009

Dungeness crab

Haliclystus

Charlie Seablom’s team had beautiful sunshiny weather and a -2.4 tide when they made the long hike to Footprint Rock on the west side of Whidbey Island on May 28. The team was made up of five adult monitors with one sunbonnetted little one along to supervise. Melody Kuschnereit got a good look at a stalked jelly and Libby Hayward spotted a Dungeness crab (Cancer magister). Other highlights for the team included polychaete worms and a black oystercatcher.

Langley Seawall-May 28, 2009

2009-05-28T19:23:00.005-07:00

Langley Seawall Team photo 2009

Melanochlamys

Langley Seawall team at work

Pisaster brevispinous

Lottia parallela

Phyllaplysia

The Langley Seawall team had a -2.6 foot tide to work with on May 28th and Yvonne Palka put together a team of seven to get it done. This beach is composed of a concrete seawall with a short stretch of rocky substrate and then a broad expanse of sand that supports eelgrass (Zostera marina) beds in the lower intertidal. Several tiny red velvet mites (Neomolgus) were seen scurrying about their business on the concrete seawall and peeking into its crevices revealed the hiding places of sea slaters (Ligia pallasii). Along the sandy expanse, the team found ghost shrimp and the tiny sea slug identified as Melanochlymus. As the team delved into the eelgrass they found a giant pink seastar (Pisaster brevispinous), eelgrass limpets (Lottia parallela),and eelgrass sea slugs (Phyllaplysia taylori).

Harrington Lagoon-May 27, 2009

2009-05-27T20:37:00.010-07:00

Look at this

Harrington Lagoon team photo 2009

Checking it out

Moonsnail

Bristle cone worm

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis

The tide rolled back to -3.5 feet on May 27th giving Donna Keeler’s Harrington Lagoon team a terrific opportunity to examine their beach. Dick Dent uncovered two big moonsnails and the team encountered numerous moonsnail egg collars that lay along the low tide line. One of the moonsnails clutched a drilled and empty littleneck clamshell in its massive foot, apparently the remnants of its lunch. Wendy Moon spotted a green sea urchin and the team found more than a dozen barnacle eating nudibranchs. Pete Berg found a large "naked" hairy hermit crab revealing the soft coiled abdomen that is usually tucked up into protective snail shell attire. There were also quite a number of ice cream cone worms (Pectinaria). In addition, the team dug up bristle comb worms which Whidbey monitors have found only on this beach. Bristle comb worms belong to the polychaete family Flabelligeridae.

Onamac Beach - May 27, 2009

2009-05-27T10:33:00.000-07:00

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.

Cama Beach State Park - May 26, 2009

2009-05-26T20:45:00.000-07:00

975
We gathered at Cama Beach State Park for the South monitoring line area; it lies directly at the bottom of the road down to the resort cabins. This was a better day than last year when we were wet and frozen, but still very windy and we came prepared on this day at 10:30 AM, without any sunshine to cheer us. The low tide of -3.6 was expected to be at 12:48 PM and since this was our first beach of the year we knew we had to work diligently to get our work done in time. Duane H. and John C. established our start point from last year’s data and the line was stretched out toward the water’s edge. Because there were not as many of us as hoped for we had to make the decision to omit the North Line at the other end of the resort.
970;972;971
973;974
Our findings were lucrative: many thick mussel areas as we progressed down, colorful welks near the lower sections, and at the very end of our line a huge moon snail, Euspira lewisii, for which this beach is so well known. The moon snail had its foot area extended and was sitting by an almost complete casing (rarely seen in one piece). For many of us this was an incredible first look at such a large, live one. Nudibranchs, Onchidoris, were in abundance and the area at the low intertidal was extensively covered with their egg masses. We also found a lined chiton, Tonicella lineata, which was very large, decorated with its signature diamond pattern on its back; there were many of them in the area.
967;968
And while we examined our quadrats and worked the line, we had an observer watching us from about 100 ft away: a very healthy bald eagle, which watched us for awhile, took off, and then came back and landed again to ponder what we were all about. We thought he might be hoping we would provide him with supper. Thanks to the first crew for 2009 for all their help and to John and Duane for getting our first monitoring of the season off to a good start. Several folks staying at Cama came by to see what we were doing and learned a little about Beach Watchers and intertidal monitoring. Written by Judi McD. Pictures taken by J. Custer and J. McDougall.
969

Rosario Beach-May 26, 2009

2009-05-26T19:09:00.000-07:00

Team at work-Rosario

Rosario Beach team photo 2009

Quadrat work

Fucus sp.

Checkered periwinkle

Idotea wosnesenskii

It was a dauntless, nose to the grindstone group who descended on Deception Pass State Park’s Rosario Beach on May 26th. Sammye Kempbell organized the 8 monitors into two teams who set to work documenting 17 quadrats full of the rich floral and faunal species that span the length of Rosario’s rocky intertidal area. The crew worked under light rain most of the morning but as they finished up the last couple of quadrats the sky brightened and the rain ceased. Thankfully no one took a tumble on the slippery-when-wet bedrock.

Because this beach has been heavily trampled in recent years, the park implemented a restoration project last summer with trails installed for visitors. Park Interpretive Specialist Adam Lorio joined the monitoring teams hoping to learn how species density may be changing in response to the restoration project. The Beach Watcher naturalists who have helped out on this beach for several years believe the rockweed (Fucus sp.) appears to be more plentiful this year as compared to last year. The monitoring teams tallied hundreds of periwinkles (Littorina sp.), Lisa Harkins found tiny striped Haliplanella anemones tucked in a crevice, and Melody Kuschnereit made the observation that the green rockweed isopods (Idotea wosnesenskii) resembled dill pickles!

Cama Beach State Park - May 26, 2009

2009-05-26T10:30:00.000-07:00

Monitoring preparations

We gathered at Cama Beach State Park for the South monitoring line area; it lies directly at the bottom of the road down to the resort cabins. This was a better day than last year when we were wet and frozen, but still very windy and we came prepared on this day at 10:30 AM, without any sunshine to cheer us. The low tide of -3.6 was expected to be at 12:48 PM and since this was our first beach of the year we knew we had to work diligently to get our work done in time. Duane H. and John C. established our start point from the data of last year and the line was stretched out toward the water edge. Because there were not as many of us as hoped for we had to make the decision to omit the North Line at the other end of the resort.

Lined chiton

Moon snail detail

Moon snail casing

Nudibranchs & eggs

Nudibranchs & eggs #2

Our findings were lucrative: many thick mussel areas as we progressed down, colorful welks near the lower sections, and at the very end of our line a huge moon snail, Euspira lewisii, for which this beach is so well known. The moon snail had its foot area extended and was sitting by an almost complete casing (rarely seen in one piece). For many of us this was an incredible first look at such a large, live one. Nudibranchs, Onchidoris, were in abundance and the area at the low intertidal was extensively covered with their egg masses. We also found a lined chiton, Tonicella lineata, which was very large, decorated with its signature lined pattern on its back; there were many of them in the area as well as mossy chitons, Mopalia.

Bald eagle watching BW

BW investigating

And while we examined our quadrats and worked the line, we had an observer watching us from about 100 ft away: a very healthy bald eagle, which watched us for awhile, took off, and then came back and landed again to ponder what we were all about. We thought he might be hoping we would provide him with supper. Thanks to the first crew for 2009 for all their help and to John and Duane for getting our first monitoring of the season off to a good start. Several folks staying at Cama came by to see what we were doing and learned a little about Beach Watchers and intertidal monitoring. Written by Judi McD. Pictures taken by J. Custer and J. McDougall.

Finished and tired

Rolling Hills-May 25, 2009

2009-05-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

Graceful kelp crab egg mass

Rolling Hills team photo 2009

Moonsnail

Rolling Hills is located along Penn Cove and Charlie Seablom put together a team of six to look it over on Memorial Day, May 25th. The great sunny weather made for a good day to be at the beach although a ring around the sun suggested rain was on the way. John Moon and Victor Robard were intrigued by the moon snailsthey found. Lily Yocum noted her highlight as a graceful crab (Cancer gracilis) with an egg mass tucked under its abdomen.

Sunlight Beach-May 24, 2009

2009-05-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

Ovatella

Japanese eelgrass

Moonsnail

Sunlight Beach team photo 2009

Kristen Cooley had the Sunlight Beach team out on May 24th. This beach is a broad expanse of sand and the profile line stretched out over 3200 feet. To cover that distance, the team used profile poles set 100 feet apart rather than the usual 10. Among the species they identified were the tiny mouse eared snail (Ovatella myosotis), moon snails, sand dollars, and two species of eelgrass: Zostera marina and Zostera japonica. Charlie Seablom reports that the team also spotted a bald eagle that had perched near the start point.

Coupeville Town Park Beach - May 23, 2009

2009-05-23T20:46:00.000-07:00

Coupeville Town Park Team photo 2009

Gaper clam

Coupeville Town Park team at work

Moonsnail

Moon snail egg collar

Ghost shrimp

Cockle

Memorial Day weekend brought more great low tides and the Coupeville Town Park Beach team took advantage of them to check out their beach on May 23rd. High points for the day included finding two moon snails and moon snail egg collars, a ghost shrimp with a parasitic isopod under the carapace, a gaper clam with a commensal crab, and lots of green sea urchins. In addition, two Columbia black tail deer and a harbor seal put in appearances. Brian Giles waded into Penn Cove to retrieve a mottled sea star so the team could check it out and Dick Newsham wielded a shovel to dig several species of bivalves and worms out of the substrate for identification. Brand new BWs Michele Johnson and Trevor Arnold took turns taking profile readings and recording data.

Freeland Town Park - May 10, 2009

2009-05-10T20:00:00.000-07:00

Freeland Town Park team photo 2009

Pectinaria sp.

Freeland Town Park team at work

The Freeland Park team turned out on May 10th. This beach is rocky with a preponderance of cobbles in the high and mid intertidal zones then transitions to a soft sand/mud substrate at about the -1 foot level. Bob Buck captains this team and it was his experienced eyes that spotted a shaggy mouse nudibranch (Aeolidia papillosa) tucked up under a boulder. Sharon Dunn picked the shaggy mouse as the highlight for her day along with the numerous barnacle eating nudibranchs (Onchidoris bilamellata). Barbara James, from the BW class of 2009 was monitoring her first beach and reported that she enjoyed the total experience. A guest from the British Isles came along and said she was amazed by the variety of life on the beach and she was also just happy that her boots hadn’t fallen off! Other observations were of the tubeworm Pectinaria, a ring around the sun that heralded a change in weather, and a bald eagle that swooped down and plopped into the water, apparently in pursuit of a fish. The eagle bobbed in the water for a few minutes then took off and flew away, its dignity apparently unruffled in spite of the unsuccessful fishing venture.

South Whidbey State Park - April 27, 2009

2009-04-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

Team Photo South Whidbey State Park 2009

Onchidoris with eggs

A team was also hard at work at South Whidbey State Park on April 27th. Team captain Libby Haywood reports that her enthusiastic group identified barnacle eating nudibranchs and their egg ribbons, hermit crabs, and they found four species of barnacles on a massive erratic that was also home to quite a variety of seaweeds. Charlie Seablom got photos of a dark colored 1 cm long invertebrate believed to be either Melanochlymus or the very similar appearing Aglaja, both of which are nudibranch relatives. The team rotated jobs, giving everyone a turn at taking measurements, recording data, and working on quadrats.

Crescent Harbor - April 27, 2009

2009-04-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Tonicella sp

Crescent Harbor monitoring team photo 2009

Evasterias troschelii

The Crescent Harbor team enjoyed warm temperatures, sunny skies, and a -3 foot tide on April 27th. The team was made up of just four members but they worked at a steady pace and made it to the waters edge at just the right moment, as the tide dropped to its lowest point. Jean Allen enjoyed being back on the beach and made some great finds. She was the first to spot barnacle eating nudibranchs with their egg masses. Mottled sea stars (Evasterias troschelii), lined chitons (Tonicella lineata),and gunnel eels made the day’s highlight list as did a pair of river otters that hauled out nearby on a partially submerged erratic.

Ala Spit - April 26, 2009

2009-04-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Dungeness crab

Ala Spit team photo2009

Eelgrass

The 2009 monitoring season was off to a busy start with three beaches going under scrutiny on April 26th. The Ala Spit team, headed up by Sammye Kempbell had a broad expanse of sand and muddy sand to inventory. In the middle intertidal zone, they found half a dozen small nonnative Haliplanella lineata (commonly called lined anemones) that were hidden among mussel clumps. Further down in the eelgrass, Jim Somers and Pattie Hutchins spotted two large Dungeness crabs (Cancer magister) dug into the soft substrate with only their eyes and a bit of carapace exposed. Several small gunnel eels were also found lurking amongst the eelgrass. Barry Dunn commented that the highlight for her was just getting the team together and seeing everyone again.

Pratt's Bluff - April 26, 2009

2009-04-26T16:58:00.000-07:00

Pycnopodia

Pratt's Bluff team photo 2009

Aeolidia papillosa

Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis

The third beach monitored on April 26th was Pratts Bluff with Finn Gatewood at the helm. Finn and her team were delighted by the sunny weather. Kathy Fritts and Ingri Johnson both listed the discovery of a shaggy mouse nudibranch on their list of highlights. Virginia Allen liked the green sea urchins (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) and Charlie Seablom stayed busy snapping photos of the sunflower stars (Pycnapodia helianthoides).

Ledgewood Beach - April 26, 2009

2009-04-26T15:45:00.004-07:00

Anthopleura artemisia

Caprellid amphipod

Gobiesox meandricus

Jan Holmes had a team of five at Ledgewood on April 26th. They found that someone had added large boulders around their start point in an attempt to prevent beach erosion and so the team decided the best course of action would be to move the start point and profile line. Brand new Beach Watcher Heather Pentz was along on her first beach monitoring experience and was fascinated by everything she found. Liz Berg liked the moonglow anemones (Anthopleura artemisia) that dotted the beach. The group also found northern clingfish (Gobiesox maeandricus), caprellid amphipods, and lots of Lacuna snail egg clusters.

SAMPLE ARTICLE

2009-01-01T14:23:00.008-08:00

TITLE:
 - The title should include the name of the beach,
     and the date it was monitored.
 
     Example:  Ledgewood - April 9, 2009

DATE:

 - also click on [Post Options] at the bottom left
   of the edit window, and set the monitoring date
   there -  m/d/yy - you can ignore the time field.

LABELS:

 - please provide three labels:
      - year 
      - beach name
      - whidbey or camano island (or other for rosario)

IMAGES:

The rest of this post shows the various ways to include expandable images in your writeups.

Each image must first be entered into the Beach Watchers Image Database, where it will be assigned an id-number.

To reference an image, you enter its id-number into your post,
select the number, click on the link-icon (the funny green blob)
and then provide a url of the form bw:photo or bw:thumbnail or bw:text

This will create a hyperlink. A hyperlink is just some text and an
associated URL/web-address (aka href). Special code by Connie looks at each
of the hyperlinks on the page and modifies them per your instructions. (Connie's code is NOT run for Preview, so you will not see the expandable images in the Preview)

Here are examples of all the things you can do. You may want to view the
resulting post in one window, and edit this post in another
(and view the EditHtml tab) to see what was used to create it.

1. Including a medium size image

Result:

Freeland Town Park team photo

2. Including one thumbnail

Result:

Freeland Town Park team photo

3. Including a grouping of thumbnails

You can group images together by just listing their numbers, separated by semi-colons.

3.a Include a bunch of thumbnails:
Result:

Freeland Town Park team photo

Pratt's Bluff team photo 2008

Partridge Point team photo 2008

Crescent Harbor monitoring team photo 2008

Pisaster brevispinous

3.b Controlling thumbnail centering:
Result:

Freeland Town Park team photo

Pratt's Bluff team photo 2008

Partridge Point team photo 2008

Crescent Harbor monitoring team photo 2008

Pisaster brevispinous

4. Creating text that expands to an image

It is common to show selected thumbnails at the top, and then mention many of
of the 'critters' found that day in the body of the text. By using the bw:text
convention, the critter-name will expand to the corresponding image when the reader clicks.

4.a. Show just the scientific name:
Result: We saw Anthopleura elegantissima and ...

4.b. Show just the common name:
Result: We saw black-clawed crab and ...

4.c. Show scientific and common names:
Result: We saw lined chiton (Tonicella lineata) and ...

NOTE: Options 4.a-c will work ONLY WHEN the corresponding image has been matched to the ezid pages If you use them and there has been no matching, you will see an empty small image, but no words.

4.d. Provide custom wording:
Result: and also saw Jan's favorite eelgrass resident

4.e. More custom wording:
Result: Thanks to our our great recording crew.

5. Comments

If you want to add a comment after the id-number (or the ###.xx) you can do so.
This can help to remind you what image 347 is about.

5.a
Result:

Pycnapodia helianthoides

5.b
Result: chink shell (Lacuna sp.)

6. Controlling the image titling ..

Each image in the database has a default title. You can override this
as follows for either bw:image or bw:thumbnails specifications.

If the database contains a scientific and common name, there are more options (b,c,d).

6.a. Provide custom wording:
Result:

Jan's favorite eelgrass resident

6.b. Show common name:
Result:

giant green anemone

6.c Show scientific name:
Result:

Anthopleura xanthogrammica

6.d Show both names:
Result:

sunflower star (Pycnopodia helianthoides)

7. Miscellaneous

Alternative specifications:

- you can use bw:photo or bw:image interchangeably.

- you can use bw:thumbnail or bw:tn interchangeably.

Last updated: may 13, 2009