Memorial Day Weekend 2013

Some of the lowest tides of the year made Memorial Day Weekend one of the best for tidepooling at the beach.  Encounters with many pairs of mating crabs...Red Rock, Dungeness, Northern Kelp, and Helmet Crabs have made "Sex in the Seaweed" a good theme for current happenings at the beach.  Schmitz Memorial Viewpoint park in West Seattle was the place for Sea Lemon sea slug viewing....with dozens out in the open...and lots of egg laying going on.  Schmitz park has always rewarded me with views of the largest Sea Lemons I've ever seen.....up to 6 inches long....and not just one but a number that size later in the Summer....now they are rarely over 3 inches but growing quickly.
A very cooperative Bald Eagle was perched on a piling directly in line with Seattle's Space Needle making a photography stop mandatory.  Two crows took turns dive bombing the rather unimpressed eagle....so the crows left and returned with 6 of their friends and finally forced the eagle to head for a more peaceful perch.

Enjoy

Calcareous Tube Worm

Lined Chiton
Red Rock Crabs Mating below

Sea Lemon sea slug eggs

Mating Red Rock Crabs

Mottled Sea Star missing a ray

Piddock Clam siphon

Porcelain Crab

Pacific Sea Lemon

Pacific Sea Lemon

Monterey Sea Lemon (G. Frankenstein image)

Lined Chiton

Decorator Crab

Juvenile Sailfin Sculpin (G. Frankenstein image)

Helmet Crab

Helmet Crab blowing bubbles

New Species - Algal-tailed Geoduck  :)

Bald Eagle and Crow

Bald Eagle and Crow

Bald Eagle and Space Needle

Bald Eagle and Crow

Bald Eagle and another Crow

and another

Etc.