WIND BREAKS THE FOOD CHAIN

For 4 days in a row a gull has been observed on the top of the seawall at the 1300 block of Alki Ave feeding on a recently caught flounder.  Now this may or may not be the same individual gull, but it looks like it might be and is certainly the same species.  It's quite possible that one gull has found a perfect place to catch flounder and is in a perfect groove.  Due to foot and dog traffic in the area I was only able to get images of the gull feeding one of the days as it kept moving as it was spooked by traffic.
Today was the break in the chain of feeding days and for good reason.  A strong high pressure system has entered the area with strong north winds....pushing high tide surf against the seawall and making it an impossible place to fish for flounder.  Perhaps when the wind calms down the gull will be back and with more flounder.
                                HAPPY THANKSGIVING

CHUM FOR LUNCH BUNCH VISITS ALKI BEACH AND WEST SEATTLE AGAIN 11-10-15

You may all be getting a little tired of the same old story....Orcas visit Alki Beach and West Seattle again - 11-10-15.  Sorry.
Members of all three Southern Resident pods were present (J, K and L pod).  It appears that the three pods are spiliting up and traveling in mixed groups with some members of each pod traveling together.  The whales passed West Seattle Alki Beach early in the afternoon today to the delight of perhaps 100 or more whale watchers.  Usually the whales travel on the west side of the Sound in our area and binoculars are needed to view them but in the last five days they have come close to the Seattle side of the Sound and no need for binoculars.  The whales are on the Endangered Species List and were being followed by a research boat which collects data and also whale feces in an attempt of determine what the whales are eating.  The rough water today made feces collection impossible.....so no pictures...sorry.  Boat in the images is research pooper scooper boat.

 

SOUTHERN RESIDENT ORCAS OFF SEATTLE AGAIN TODAY 11-05-14

Members of the Southern Resident Orca (Killer Whale) community were present off Seattle again and passed closer to Alki Beach than they did on 11-03.  Possibly members of all 3 resident pods were present but a minimum of 2 pods.  Will have to wait for positive identification to know exactly who was in the pods.  The whales were spread out over a several square miles as they foraged for Chum Salmon that are returning to Puget Sound rivers to spawn.  Approximately 1.7 million Chum Salmon return to spawn every year with about 90% of the runs coming in the fall months...November and December being very busy.
The Southern Resident Community is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and are the subject of a Federal Recovery Plan.  2015 was a good year for the Southern Residents as their favorite food, Chinook Salmon, had strong runs.  Now the Orcas are turning their attention to Chum Salmon...the second most plentiful salmon species in Puget Sound....Pink (Humpy)Salmon being the most plentiful with approximately 6.5 million fish returning this year.  However Pink Salmon runs are only large in odd number years with only a very small percentage of Pinks returning in even number years.  Orcas do not normally feed on Pink Salmon as they are feeding on Chinook Salmon at the time of the Pink's return.  Chinook are much larger and provide much greater nutrition value for the Orcas.  Chum can also reach much larger size than Pinks.
The Southern Residents can be expected to be feeding in Puget Sound as long as the Chum Salmon runs continue.  Two of the three pods (K &L) will spend much of the winter in the open ocean moving as far south as Monterey CA.  One pod (J) spends more time in inside waters of Washington and British Columbia.
Images taken from Alki Beach Park in West Seattle.

SOUTHERN RESIDENT KILLER WHALES IN PUGET SOUND 11-03-15

Two or three Southern Resident Killer Whale pods were in Puget Sound today feeding on Chum Salmon.  This is the first observed visit by the Resident Pods this Fall.  The whales spent much of their time off Vashon Island.  They were seen headed north at 1:30pm off Bainbridge Island.  The video was taken from Constellation Marine Reserve in West Seattle about 3 miles from the whales....so quality is not good.

LONG BEACH WASHINGTON HALLOWEEN FUN

The first big storm of Fall arrived the day before Halloween and brought heavy rain and wind to Western Washington.  We spent the weekend at Long Beach WA and were lucky enough to have breaks in the weather long enough for three good beach walks.  Washington State is expected to have normal Fall weather during this El Nino year with dryer and warmer weather coming after the start of Winter.  Sanderlings were present in large numbers and one dead gull (not sure the species) and one dead Cassin's Auklet were seem.  We lucked out with a very nice sunset on Halloween....
A question often asked is:  What causes sea foam on the beach?
For the answer go here:  http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/seafoam.html

3 Spined Stickleback

Cassin's Auklet

Sanderlings

Sanderlings

Glove chase

Sea Rocket and dune grass

Sea foam - Popping these bubbles can release toxic algal particles into the air...if toxic algal cells are part of the makeup of the sea foam

Sea foam - popping these bubbles can be harmful to your health

Razor Clam shell

Seal flipper

Gretchen and sea foam

Happy Halloween

SHORT UPDATE FROM JANICE MATIHSEN OF SEATTLE AQUARIUM -SSWD

JANICE MATHISEN of the Seattle Aquairum sent this email update on SSWD:

Update on Sea star wasting from Seattle Aquarium research:

In response to inquiries from staff, volunteers and visitors, Dr. Lesanna Lahner put together the following SSWD update, which will also be posted to our blog this week.

Sea star wasting disease continues to be a problem for sea stars along the west coast of North America. Since it was first observed two years ago, many strides have been made in understanding the disease including the isolation of a virus, termed sea star-associated densovirus SSaDV, that may be associated with it. More work is being done to understand the role this virus might play in the disease process and the Seattle Aquarium is collaborating with Dr. Ian Hewson from Cornell on this topic.

Other research directed at better understanding SSWD has been done recently at the Seattle Aquarium, with generous support from The Boeing Company. This past summer, three interns worked with me on a variety of sea-star-related projects including 1) the effects of ocean acidification conditions on the general health of sea stars and on SSWD progression; 2) better understanding the coelomic fluid of healthy and diseased sea stars; and 3) radiographic evaluations of healthy and SSWD-affected stars. Evaluating coelomic fluid is like doing blood work on a mammal. It tells us a lot about what is going on inside the sea star on a physiologic level. The radiographic studies included fascinating diagnostics like plain film radiographs (x-rays), computed tomography (CT scan), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of both healthy and diseased sea stars. These radiographic studies gave us new insight into what's normal for sea stars and what's happening in live stars affected with sea star wasting disease. These valuable coelomic fluid and radiographic studies were made possible due to generous support from collaborators including Dr. Nicole Stacy at The University of Florida School of Veterinary Medicine and Dr. Tori McKlveen at the VCA Specialty Clinic of Seattle.

The Seattle Aquarium recently co-funded a dive survey of the San Juan Islands with the SeaDoc Society and Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) to look at the population impacts of SSWD. Over 100 dives were done as part of this survey by highly trained scientific divers. Before SSWD, between 20 and 30 sunflower sea stars would be seen on a single dive. Unfortunately, the findings were quite grim and not a single sunflower sea star could be found. Other areas are reporting very low numbers of sea stars and increasing numbers of urchins. The recruitment of young sea stars in most regions has been reported as low by collaborators.

The Seattle Aquarium continues to collaborate with many other institutions on SSWD research and is dedicated to understanding SSWD for the conservation of our marine environment. We will be hosting an international workshop in January of 2016 of sea star disease researchers to identify priorities for SSWD research moving forward. Stay tuned for more updates!​

 Janice Mathisen

Seattle Aquarium

Seattle WA