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
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| Calcareous Tube Worm |
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| Lined Chiton Red Rock Crabs Mating below |
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| Sea Lemon sea slug eggs |
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| Mating Red Rock Crabs |
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| Mottled Sea Star missing a ray |
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| Piddock Clam siphon |
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| Porcelain Crab |
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| Pacific Sea Lemon |
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| Pacific Sea Lemon |
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| Monterey Sea Lemon (G. Frankenstein image) |
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| Lined Chiton |
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| Decorator Crab |
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| Juvenile Sailfin Sculpin (G. Frankenstein image) |
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| Helmet Crab |
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| Helmet Crab blowing bubbles |
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| New Species - Algal-tailed Geoduck :) |
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| Bald Eagle and Crow |
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| Bald Eagle and Crow |
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| Bald Eagle and Space Needle |
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| Bald Eagle and Crow |
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| Bald Eagle and another Crow |
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| and another |
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| Etc. |
