Tag Archives: low tide

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Craig Tooley watched these two Deer, a Doe and her yearling, walking over rocks at low tide on April 1st. Craig joked that they might be abalone picking, and that the mother Deer might be named "Jane Doe."

April 1st is usually the opening of Abalone season, but this year the season doesn't open until May 1st.

We have a beautiful day after rain in the early hours. We have had an amazing 73+ inches of rain so far this season.

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see much more of Craig's nature photography, here is the link to his website: www.ruffimage.com

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Low tide is the time to tide pool. With the Pacific Ocean pulled back, many treasures are revealed. Ken Holmes recently saw this large group of Sea Anemones.

Ken wrote, “Maybe you have seen these patterns before...almost in rows and columns, a bed of young anemones waiting for the sea to return.”

Sea Anemones eat small fish and shrimp. They have venom that they use to paralyze their prey. Though the vast majority is not harmful to humans, it’s best to admire them without touching.

Thanks to Ken for allowing me to share his photo with you here.

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Peggy Berryhill enjoys exploring Cook's Beach at very low tides and she sees amazing things. Recently she saw an Ochre Sea Star eating a Dungeness Crab.

She also saw a juvenile Dungeness Crab.

Too small, perhaps, to capture the attention of a hungry Sea Star.

Thanks to Peggy for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

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Goose Barnacles live on hard surfaces of rock, and even flotsam, in the intertidal zone of the ocean. Peggy Berryhill recently photographed a group of them at low tide off of Cook's Beach. You can also see a handful of mussels in Peggy's photo.

Such a strange-looking creature!  The Goose Barnacles look rather like claws. They are considered a delicacy in Portugal and Spain and go by the name Percebes. Native people on the Mendonoma Coast would roast them on a fire and then eat the stem. I'm content to admire them in their natural habitat, one of the many denizens of the ocean.

Thanks to Peggy for allowing me to share her photo with you here.

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Tide pooling is a Coast tradition. The Independent Coast Observer prints a weekly tide table, which I always cut out and put on my refrigerator. At low tide, locals and visitors alike head to the beach. Craig Tooley recently photographed two different Sea Stars, which are sometimes call Star Fish. One Sea Star is on top of a Sea Urchin shell.

Thanks to Craig for allowing me to share his photo with you here. To see more of Craig's wonderful photography, here's the link to his website: http://ruffimage.com/

To see a photo of a huge Sea Star, the Sunflower, here's the link: http://www.mendonomasightings.com/2012/03/27/sunflower-seastar-found-at-the-stornetta-public-lands/