Eggs in neon

  

After field work this morning, I noticed a couple of Giant Green Anemones (Anthopleura xanthogrammica) were spawning, so I took a couple of quick photos for the record.

Sometimes spawning is triggered by a large change in water temperature.  During the past week we saw extremely cold temperatures  of ~8.5°C (~47°F), and then when the winds dropped temperatures rose to ~12.5°C (~54.5°F). 

Here's a close-up of the eggs:

 

 

 

And a zoomed out view of the entire female anemone with the beige eggs accumulated on the lower edge of her oral disc:

 

 

 

 
There were a few males spawning, too:

 

 

 

P.S.  I haven't seen anemones spawning that often, but I wrote about another observation back in 2013.  See "Fortuitous" on 28 June 2013 and "Little narwhals" on 23 July 2013 (the latter includes photos of anemone larvae).

Green highlights

  

Another amazing intertidal sculpin, photographed on 19 May 2022.

 

 

Orange beauties

  

We noticed these beautiful lilies along the side of the road recently and I couldn't resist stopping for a few quick photos.

 

 

Perhaps a botanist can help with the i.d.?  Are these Coast Lilies (Lilium maritimum)?

 

 

 

Checking in?

  

Well, I haven't been able to sort through my sea lion photos yet, but here are a couple more from 22 May 2022.  

A very large Steller Sea Lion approached a smaller individual.  I don't have much experience with this species, so I'm not totally sure what was going on.  

At first I thought it might be a large male interacting with a small female, but it seemed more like a mother-pup interaction.  Later I read that females have been seen nursing yearlings and older juveniles.  So perhaps this is a large female and a juvenile?

 

 

If you have thoughts about the identities of these individuals or about the interaction, I'd love to hear more.

Stellar Steller

  

We were hearing some sea lions while doing field work recently and when I looked out to an offshore rock, I could see them in the distance.  I thought it might be too far for my camera lens, but I ended up with a few interesting photos.  

The animal in the center is a very (very!) large Steller Sea Lion (Eumetopias jubatus).  Adult males can be up to 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) long and weigh an average of 1000 kg (2200 lbs, or 1 ton).  They are the largest otariid (sea lions and fur seals) in the world.

The animals directly in front and behind the large Steller Sea Lion are California Sea Lions (Zalophus californianus).  (I'll talk more about the differences in a future post.)  But the animals in the lower left corner are also Steller Sea Lions — perhaps a large female and a smaller juvenile.

Tattler views

  

I spent some time watching a Wandering Tattler (Tringa incana) near Salt Point today (22 May 2022).

 

 

 

The tattler seemed very interested in amphipods (small crustaceans) in shallow pools.  In the photo below, there's an amphipod at the tip of the tattler's bill (even more visible in the shadow):

 

 

 

 

One time the tattler was feeding near the edge of the water when a larger wave surged up on to the rock.  I just happened to have my camera ready and snapped a photo before it flew up higher on the shore: 

 

 

 

Watch out for sneaker waves!

Tower of flower

  

A beautiful larkspur in a coastal grassland near Jenner on 19 May 2022.  I'm not sure which species this is yet (if you have an idea, let me know!), but thought it was still worth sharing.  Another view: