Double Bluff/Wahl Farm

Onchidella borealis

Looking under a rock

Rough piddock

Amphiodia

Opalescent nudibranch

Team captain Jan Holmes and the Double Bluff/Wahl Farm team put up with intermittent rain showers to get profile and species data on July 3rd but when more ominous looking dark clouds appeared and thunderclaps began to rumble, the team headed for their cars, deciding quadrat observations could wait until another day. Their retreat was well timed because just as they reached the parking area, the clouds opened up with torrential rain. The slightly soggy but otherwise gung ho team had a grand time while they were on the beach finding an incredibly diverse group of organisms including caprellid amphipods, opalescent and barnacle eating nudibranchs and their little sea slug relatives commonly known as leather limpets (Onchidella borealis). In addition they identified rough piddocks (Zirphaea pilsbryi), four species of bryozoans, and a long-rayed brittle star Amphiodia sp.). June Davis brought along her 4-year-old granddaughter who had a great time making new friends and learning about the beach critters. Finn Gatewood pulled double duty that morning, starting out collecting data for a pigeon guillemot survey along the Wahl Farm beach bluff and then joining the monitoring team after finishing her bird survey.

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.

Madrona Beach Monitoring - July 2, 2008

Mike's crew

On the morning of July 2, 2008 (opening day for crab season), 13 Camano Island BeachWatchers (and Bill) gathered for the annual beach monitoring. Due to the fog, and consequent lack of a visible horizon, Beth drove to the office and obtained the water tube sighting device. After an initial learning process, the device was put to use, and worked remarkably well. Perhaps due to opening day, we had quite a few curious onlookers, including some members of the Fire Dept., who had helped rescue a stranded boat, and a bald eagle perched on the yacht club dock.
The first 50 feet from the starting point revealed surprisingly sparse animal life; just a few spiders. Thereafter, the beach lived up to its reputation as one full of interesting sea life, including amphipods, four types of barnacle, lots of seaweed, chitons, clams, crab, gunnel fish, isopods, limpets, mussels, nudibranchs, seastars, shrimp, snails, worms,, and seagrass. Due to the low tide of -3.8 at 10:47 a.m., the end of the line was 170' from the start. All had a great time, and a small feast at Capt. Mike's afterwards. Thanks to Mike for this report.

Cavalero Beach - July 1, 2008

Cavalero quadrat

Handheld recording

Inspecting line area

An enthusiastic group of 15 Beach Watchers and guest volunteer, Bill B., gathered at 8:00 am on the first day of July at Cavalero Beach to perform Intertidal Monitoring. It was a pleasant dry day with temperatures in the mid 60s. The group led by Cathy surveyed a single profile line with 21 segments out to -3.3 feet low tide level, layed-out and evaluated nine quadrats, and identified 35 species. Two handhelds were also employed supplementing hard copy data recording.

Similar to last year, the beach substrate lacked ground shell and clay/silt earthen materials. Marine organism variety and abundance was up from the 2007 levels, where only 16 species were identified. This year, the levels were similar to that found in the years 2004 thru 2006.

New information collected in the profile line this year for tracking of certain invertebrate allowed us to determine that the main species for barnacles was Balanus (segments 4-21), for crabs was Hemigrapsus (segments 6-21) and for snails was Littorina (segments 5 to 14) and Nucella (segments 14-21).

Invertebrates found included amphipods, anemones, arachnid, barnacles, crabs, fish, isopods, limpets, mussels, polychaete, ribbon worms, snails, and bald eagles. In addition to green, red and brown seaweed the true plant dunegrass (Elymus mollis) was also found. To the enjoyment of the monitors an

Sculpin

Eggs under rock

8 inch Sculpin (Oligocottus maculosus) was found under a rock with eggs attached to the bottom of the rock.

We ended a successful monitoring event with a group photo and a picnic in the Park.

Cavalero Team

Written by Cathy M. Thanks Cathy for all your hard work with the handhelds.

Possession Point

Team at work-Poss Pt

Opalescent nudibranch

Check it out-7-08

Amphipod

Juvenile red rock crab

Polychaete

Barnacle eating nudibranch

Possession Point team photo 2008

Parasitic isopods on mud shrimp

Butter clam

Gaper clam

After several days of sunshine and summer-like temperatures, July 1st dawned with overcast skies and breezy conditions, signaling that a change in weather was on the way. Jim Shelver's Possession Point team hit the beach that morning to find the tide rolling back to the -3.4 foot level and revealing a lush layer of eelgrass. Bob Gentz discovered a small opalescent nudibranch (Hermissenda crassicornis) that had sought refuge under the eelgrass and the team also found a number of barnacle eating nudibranchs (Onchidoris bilamellata) on the undersides of cobbles. Bill Blair's bivalve dig brought up a blue mud shrimp (Upogebia pugettensis) and close inspection revealed a pair of parasitic isopods (Ione sp.) adhered to the side of its carapace. In addition, the team sighted juvenile red rock crabs (Cancer productus), several large amphipods, and a large polychaete belonging to the family Glyceridae. The polychaete demonstrated a remarkable talent for repeatedly everting its large proboscis. Jim Shelver was surprised that more clams were not found this year. The team dug up a few gaper (Tresus capax), butter (Saxidomas gigantea), and pointed macoma (Macoma inquinita) clams but numbers were down considerably compared to previous years. Possession Point is located at the southern tip of Whidbey Island.

Iverson Spit Beach - June 19, 2008

Balanus glandula top view

Balanus glandula crowded

Balanus crenatus2

On a breezy June 19 morning Donna W-S led nine Camano Beach Watchers to perform intertidal monitoring at Iverson Spit Beach which is located facing Port Susan, on the shoreline of Camano Island. This is a very sandy beach which has been monitored for several years, but last year, 2007, it was re-established from a new start point. For the interested reader, return to the profiles of 2007 and read about this unique shoreline.

A profile line was set out to the -1.9 foot low tide which occurred at 12:06 pm. This was the second year that this new profile line location (north end of the paved road to the public access entrance for the beach) was monitored. Species found pretty consistently along the profile line from about 270 feet to the end of the profile line at 572 feet included the barnacles, Balanus glandula

Balanus glandula top view

and Balanus crenatus,

Balanus crenatus2

and green seaweed, Ulva

Ulva

Crabs, clams, isopods, mussels and amphipods were also found, but much more sparsely. Crabs were found more consistently and abundantly along this profile line in 2007.

Thanks to Cathy M. for this data collection summary and Mary Jo A. for her photos.