Columbia Beach

Columbia Beach team at work Columbia Beach team at work

Working on profile line 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.

Columbia Beach - July 20, 2009

Team captain lays out quadrat Team captain lays out quadrat

Columbia Beach Team photo 2009 Columbia Beach Team photo 2009

..Euspira lewisii.. Moon snail Moon snail Moon snail

Columbia Beach team at work 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 sp...
Chink shell

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Lacuna snails

Lacuna snails and even tinier

..Caprellid amphipod..
Skeleton shrimp

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Caprellid amphipods

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.

Columbia Beach

Zostera4

Smithora

Red velvet mite

Checking along profile line

Recording data

Team captains Bill and Evelyn Blair gathered a team of nine to check out Columbia Beach on July 2nd. The tide dipped below -3.6 feet exposing a goodly expanse of beach. Bill reports that the weather was beautiful and the group had a lot of fun. A fog bank lay over the landmark they normally use to lay out the profile line so they relied on a compass bearing and because the fog also obscured the horizon line, they took profile elevation readings using a sight level. The team recorded 37 species including eelgrass (Zostera marina) adorned with the epiphytic red seaweed Smithora, pinhead sized red velvet mites (Neomolgus littoralis), barnacle eating nudibranchs (Onchidoris bilamellata) with their egg ribbons, and quite a number of great blue herons. Bill noted that the amount of eelgrass was less than had been seen last year and the number of clams also seemed to be down.