Blue drift lines

  

Looking north along Salmon Creek Beach, with drift lines of By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella).  There were so many Velella washed up tonight (14 March 20205), the beach looked blue as far as you could see. Here are a couple more views showing the high densities of Velella:

 

 

 

You can probably see that there were a variety sizes, anywhere from ~1 mm long to 70 mm long.  Below, a photo of small-medium Velella:

 

 

 

And, a couple of tiny (hard-to-see!) Velella. The first is at the end of Eric's fingertip for scale:

 

 

And the next one is so small its sail is barely visible:

 

 

If you've been to the beach lately, I'm guessing you're seeing Velella, too?

P.S.  For an introduction to Velella, see "Below the water line" on 18 March 2014.

Horseshoes washing ashore

  

A nectophore from Hippopodius on Salmon Creek Beach.  Although this photo is from late December 2024, we saw quite a few of these nectophores on the beach tonight (21 February 2025).

For more information about these structures, check out earlier posts:

"Hippos" on the beach from 16 April 2015

Little hippos on the sand from 21 February 2021

P.S.  My eyebrows always go up when there's an exact match between today's date and a previous date with the same topic, e.g., today's post on 21 February 2025 and the earlier post on 21 February 2021.

Wood-warbler

  

Yellow-rumped Warbler (Setophaga coronata) on driftwood along the upper beach near Salmon Creek, 25 December 2024.

Happy hula-days!

  

This is a record shot -- i.e., not a great photo, but one that's important for documentation.  

We went for a short walk at Salmon Creek Beach this afternoon and recorded quite a few gelatinous species, including 5 species of siphonophores (!), a ctenophore, a pteropod, and a salp.

I'll share some more photos and information soon, but for now I just wanted to highlight this intriguing Hula Skirt Siphonophore (Physophora hydrostatica).

I wrote about this species almost 10 years ago, so for a better explanation and some additional photos and illustrations, check out the post called "A Hula Skirt!" on 7 May 2015.

Indicator?

  

I took these photos about a week ago, but wanted to share them since this is a species often associated with warmer water conditions.  

This is the nectophore (swimming bell) of Diphyes dispar, a siphonophore.  We recorded >50 individuals on Salmon Creek Beach on 1 January 2024.

The last time we observed this species was during the 2014-2016 marine heatwaves.  Recent water temperatures have been warmer than average for this time of year, hovering ~13-14°C (56-57°F), perhaps connected to this winter's El Niño.

Here's another photo with a ruler for scale:

 

 

I introduced Diphyes back in 2014, so for information about them, check out the post called "From the south" on 26 October 2014. 

Orange highlights

  

Semipalmated Plover (Charadrius semipalmatus), Salmon Creek Beach, 8 August 2022

Storm strandings -- Part 2

Okay, last night I mentioned there were quite a few different types of gelatinous zooplankton washed up on the beach.  Although these "gelatinous bits" can all seem similar at first, the closer you look, the easier it is to tell the different species apart.  It's often helpful to compare side-by-side photos, so here's a parade of plankton for the record:

 

 

Pyrosome (Pyrosoma atlanticum) — see "Fire bodies" from 8 December 2014

 

 

 

 

A salp, possibly Iasis zonaria — see "Wide mouth and ribbon-like muscles" from 29 March 2013

 

 

The swimming bell of a siphonophore, Chelophyes appendiculata — see "Swimming bells" from 3 April 2013

 

 

Part of a heteropod, Carinaria japonica — see "Carinaria -- Part 2" from 7 December 2014

 

 

 

The pseudoconch (false shell) of the pteropod Corolla spectabilis — see "Gelatinous thimble" from 11 August 2012

 

 

Hard to tell at first, but this is a different pteropod, Cliopsis krohni — see "Angel on the sand" from 13 March 2013

This last species can be tricky to identify.  It really does just look like a round blob on the sand.  But note the darker line running through the middle (that's the digestive tract) -- it's a hint that this is more than just a piece of a jellyfish.  These pteropods are delicate (used to being submerged in offshore waters), so they get beat up when they are tumbled in the surf zone and deposited on the sand.  But if you put them in a little bit of water, sometimes their heads (with tentacles) are revealed, as are their "wings" — the foot of a mollusc modified into swimming appendages.  Here's a short video clip so you can see the wings in action.  [If you can't see the video player in the e-mail, click here to see the video.]

Storm strandings

  

Just a quick photo of several pyrosomes washed up on Salmon Creek Beach tonight (28 October 2021).  

 

It's been a while since we've seen pyrosomes locally, but the storm must have pushed some closer to shore as there were hundreds (or even thousands) of pyrosomes on the beach tonight.  Most were relatively small — ranging from ~1-3 cm long.

 

There was an impressive diversity of offshore gelatinous zooplankton washed up tonight — including the pyrosomes, two types of pteropod, one species of heteropod, two kinds of salps, and one siphonophore.  I'll try to show examples of them during the next day or two.

 

To review an introduction to pyrosomes, check out the post called "Fire bodies" from 8 December 2014.

October at the beach

  

While working on a project in the Bodega Dunes yesterday (15 October 2021), I heard some plovers calling and then out of the corner of my eye I noticed a plover that looked like a good candidate for a golden-plover.  So I took a closer look and had distant but nice views of a Pacific Golden-Plover (Pluvialis fulva) — luckily I had a large lens on my camera at the time.

 

 

 View of the golden coloration on the back and the long legs:

 

 

 
And a broader view, with lots of Bull Kelp and mole crab molts washed ashore:

 

 

 

A nice fall scene! 

Evasive maneuvers

  

 
A tight flock of shorebirds over the waves...

...often means a falcon is nearby.

 

 

Salmon Creek Beach, 21 September 2021

Soon to be spring

 

 

Soon to be spring along the Sonoma Coast, 19 March 2021

Rare reptile sighting

  

Last weekend, Jane kindly let us know that she had encountered a dead sea turtle on Salmon Creek Beach.  From the photo it appeared to be a Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta), and this identification was confirmed by staff at the California Academy of Sciences.  Sea turtles are rare this far north, so it was valuable to document the occurrence of this species in Bodega Bay.

Many thanks to Jane for the photos and to Moe at Cal Academy for the confirmation.

P.S. For more information about Loggerhead Turtles, check out this helpful web page put together by NOAA.

P.P.S.  Although sea turtle sightings in this area are rare, if you come across one you can report it to The Marine Mammal Center.

Sand and surf

  

 Sanderlings (Calidris alba) over the surf zone at Salmon Creek Beach, 1 March 2021

First of spring

  

Today (20 February 2021) we encountered our first By-the-wind Sailors (Velella velella) of the spring.  Hundreds of Velella were washed ashore on Salmon Creek Beach, although most were very small (even smaller than the one shown here, which is ~15 mm long).

Along with Velella, we saw a handful of different pelagic species, so watch for other wash-ashores during the next few days.

Curlew up-close

  

Long-billed Curlew (Numenius americanus), 24 December 2020

Beach hoppers for brunch

  

Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus) feeding on amphipods (beach hoppers) at Salmon Creek Beach. 

 

 

 

The nutcracker

We walked along the beach with a raven for a little while this afternoon (14 March 2020).  It was searching the wrack line for potential food.  At one point the raven found a walnut (see below).  [I think the walnuts wash down the creeks and rivers and then end up on the beaches.]

 

The raven walked over to a piece of driftwood and held the walnut in place with its foot:

 

 Then it tried to open the walnut by hammering it with its bill:

 

This walnut was apparently too hard to crack, or the raven decided it wasn't worthwhile, so it left the walnut behind and started searching for something else.

 

Winter light

 

Sanderling (Calidris alba), Salmon Creek Beach, 28 December 2019

 

Shades of brown

 

American Pipit (Anthus rubescens) on driftwood, 2 November 2019

 

Starting early

 

Morning light, 2 July 2019