HARBOR SEALS, OCTOPUS, EAGLES, SALMON AND NIGHT BEACH WALK

Lots of scattered stuff here.  Weaned Harbor Seal pups keep turning up on local beaches, some healthy and others both ill and dead.  This year has seen more deaths recorded for seal pups in West Seattle than last year.  There are also some very chubby seal pups so it's a mixed bag.  California Sea Lion males are back in large numbers as well as a few Steller Sea Lions.  This years summer run of Pink Salmon was about 6,000,000 fish in Puget Sound and the Fall Chum Salmon run may be near record high numbers.  Orca whales have been in Central and South Puget Sound for a number of days off and on feeding on the large Chum Salmon runs.  Most Central Puget Sound Chum Runs are on the West side of the Sound and there are a number of places to observe the runs.
Eagles have also been taking advantage of the large runs and evidenced by attached images....all that salmon makes some eagles think they can handle more than they actually can...(sorry about the images...couldn't resist).  One Harbor Seal....known as "Boomer" hauls out on a float beam in Elliott Bay quite often...seems uncomfortable but who knows...  since it's a beam and not a log boom perhaps "Beamer" would be a better name.  Might motivate a certain car manufacturer to send some cash to Stranding Network operations.  An octopus eating seal was luckily caught in the act.....just a lucky camera shot.
Tide pools were full of shrimp, weather was perfect with dry clear sky no wind and water a clear as possible.
Seattle has a new mayor....council members will be elected by district in the future but GEF will still not require labels stating such.

                                                 NEST BUILDING FOR DUMMIES

 

Jack Block Park Chum Salmon feast

Boomer

Sea Lions on bouy

Rusty seal on old dock at Jack Block Park-color likely from dock surface

Anna's Hummingbird male is back at Jack Block

Boomer and gull that forced Boomer off beam

Harbor Seal with octopus

Alki tide pool

Chiton with tiny anemones attached to shells

Moonglow Anemone

Penpoint Gunnel

Purple Sea Stars on piling

Red Rock Crab

Shrimp in tidepool

I CAN'T BELIEVE I ATE THE WHOLE THING...

Lots of people ask, "What eats Seastars?".  Well, it turns out one of the most common predators on seastars are gulls; mainly the larger gulls like the Western, and Glaucous-winged Gull, which are common in the Seattle area.  In addition seastars are eaten by other seastars, sea otters, raccoons, and fish and plankton eaters that feed on them when they are in the larval stage as part of the zooplankton.  Also you will find them in food markets in China...for human consumption.

breakfast

down the hatch

Who's next?

HARBOR SEAL PUP AT ALKI

I went to Alki beach again this morning to look for the River Otters.....no luck.  A Harbor Seal pup that has been weened arrived and hauled-out at Duwamish Head.  This is a healthy looking pup likely a couple of months old. The lines on the side of the pup are called blubber rolls or lines. There was not much beach and a rising tide so after fighting the wave action for about 1/2 hour the pup went back in the water....sort of picked the wrong time and the wrong beach to take a nap.  These pups need lots of rest time....at least 50% of their time is spent out of the water to rest and conserve heat.

Seal Sitters is a non-profit organization the monitors the seals when the come ashore to ensure they are not disturbed by people or dogs.  If you at a West Seattle beach and see a seal on the beach please call Seal Sitters and notify them of the location.  206-905-SEAL.

RIVER OTTER FAMILY AT ALKI

 Spotted a River Otter family this morning at Alki...for more detailed information on Washington River Otters go to:  http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/otters.pdf

Alki Otter family

Checking me out

Homeward bound

4 clowns

LATE SUMMER PLANKTON

Plankton populations...both phytoplankton and zooplankton are most abundant in Spring and Summer months with an occasional peak in the Fall.  Some plankton members from Seacrest pier in Elliott Bay, Puget Sound in late August.  An abundance of chain diatoms, and some concentric diatoms and a scattering of zooplankton showed up in day and night plankton tows from the pier....which is usually crowded with anglers stalking the elusive salmon...Pink salmon this odd number year...perhaps 6 million will return to the Sound.

Diatoms, Copepod

Cypris stage of barnacle

Worm Larvae

Comb Jelly

Worm larva

Snail

Polychaete worm

P

Polychaete worm larva

Worm, Copepod

Barnacle larva

Barnacle larva

Copepods

Shrimp

Plankton

Cypris stage of barnacle

Worm Larva

Polychaete

Polychaete, copepod, snail

Amphipod

mixed plankton

Snail, clams

Sea Urchin larva

Copepods and snail

Polychaete

CREEPY FLIES OF THE INTERTIDAL

Known as the Barnacle Maggot (Oedoparena glauca) this small intertidal fly is big problems for the local barnacles.  At low tide the adult female lays eggs on the operculum plates of the barnacle.  The eggs have flanges that allow them to become lodged in cracks between the barnacle's plates.  The eggs hatch within 48 hours at low tide.  The fly larvae (maggots) enter the barnacle by wiggling through small gaps between the operculum plates and proceed to feed on the soft flesh of the barnacle.  After feeding on the barnacle the maggot leaves and crawls to another barnacle at low tide and wedges itself into gaps in the plates....when the water returns the barnacle opens to feed and the maggot crawls in....to feed on a second barnacle and then more.  After a few months the maggot pupates inside the last barnacle meal shell. In a month the maggot will mature into the adult and exit the barnacle shell at low tide.  Studies have determined that as many as 20% of the acorn barnacles on a beach may contain the maggots.  Golden Gardens beach in Seattle had the highest rate of predation of beaches surveyed in one study.  Barnacles that contain a maggot cannot feed because their access to the outside is blocked by the maggots breathing apparatus.