Roxanne Holmes was enjoying the recent warm weather by visiting Shell Beach on The Sea Ranch. She found this sandcastle nestled into the rocky bluff edge. Pretty sweet!
I imagine it would be easy to miss this if you weren't paying attention.
Thanks to Roxanne for allowing me to share her photo with you here.
Cloudy, cold and VERY windy today. It would sure be nice if some raindrops fell. We have had zero rain for the entire month of February, which is worrisome.
A Black Bear came down to Shell Beach recently. Michael Kreyling photographed the bear's tracks in the sand, alongside a couple of human tracks.
Several other people have seen bear scat on the west side of Highway One. Yes, bears do wander wherever they might find food, crossing the highway to do so.
Thanks to Michael for allowing me to share his photo with you here.
Roxanne doesn't know who drew this picture in the sand at Shell Beach on The Sea Ranch, but she really enjoyed seeing it.
Roxanne wrote, "It is wonderful to see how humans interact with nature to make lovely, improbable, anonymous, modest masterpieces. I think of this when I see clever driftwood structures on the beach, or mysteriously balanced rock cairns near the shore. Such pieces of art are particularly precious because – like all works of nature – they are ephemeral. They will be gone with the next tide. It seems an honor to appreciate them during their short lives. I felt compelled to share them with you!”
I thank Roxanne for letting me share her photo with you here!
Sunny, breezy and chilly is the forecast for the next several days. The recent rains brought the seasonal creeks to life, always a happy occurrence.
Kathryn Arnold went tide pooling during a recent low tide. She wrote: “I had a couple of unique-to-me sightings at Shell Beach. The tide was an 0.7 and I spotted a healthy juvenile Bat Star about the size of my thumbnail resting on a seaweed-covered rock at the tideline."
“When I gently turned it over for a closer look, I discovered that is was dining on a wee Wentletrap!
"Don’t worry, I put the Bat Star and its prey back where I found them! A few moments later I came across a ten-inch long Gumboot Chiton tracing a beautiful serpentine design in the sand.”
I didn't know about Wentletraps. I learned a Wentletrap was a tiny sea snail with a beautiful white spiral shell. The word “wentletrap” is Dutch for spiral staircase. Wentletraps are also called Staircase Shells or Ladder Shells. How, I wondered, did a Sea Star dine one of these seemingly well-protected mollusks.
I learned that many Sea Stars eat Mussels and Clams, also well-protected by shells. Sea Stars surround the shell, as the little Bat Star did, and use the suckers on their feet to pull the shell apart, creating a tiny opening for them to reach their prey, using their stomach to do so. Mother Nature seems to have quite a creative streak.
Thanks to Kathryn for allowing me to share her photos with you here.
The first Harbor Seal pups have been born at Tidepool Rookery on The Sea Ranch. I watched this blissed-out mom and her nursing pup.
I took this short video of the scene. It's a privilege to be able to see this!
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