Where the sun shines

It was a good day for it; sunny and bright, not a cloud in the sky; perfect lighting for peering under docks to see what's living there now. Unfortunately, when I got to Brown's Bay, there was a brisk wind and the water was dancing and painting abstract patterns. And maintenance had scraped whole communities off the floats. (Necessary, and some critters can relocate, but I wish ...) There were still a few sheltered spots; I found them.

Giant plumose anemones on a pipe with an unusual pink tinge.

On the wooden base of a float; plumose anemone, green sea urchins and a jelly swimming by.

Most feather duster tube worms look purmplish in their shadowy underwater homes. This one caught an unusually bright ray of light. The yellow is probably a sponge.

Group of feather duster worms, Eudistylia vancouveri.One shows up red.

A winged kelp with a pronounced stipe, Alaria marginata. In the upper part of the photo, they're attached to the dock base; underneath, they float free. They grow up to 3 metres long.

Harbour seal, Phoca vitulina. There were three of them this day, just hanging around waiting for fisher folk to come back with their catch.

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Era un dia ideal para sacar fotos de criaturas debajo de los muelles; asoleado, brillante, el cielo azul, sin  nubes; se necesita buena luz para ver claro esas comunidades acuáticas. Lástima fue que cuando llegué a Brown's Bay, se había levantado una brisa fuerte, haciendo bailar las olas, pintando diseños abstractos. Además, los encargados del mantenimiento del sitio habían limpiado los flotadores. Algo necesario en una marina, y muchos de los organismos se pueden encontrar albergue en las rocas, pero una lástima de todas maneras.

Pero buscando, buscando, encontré unos pocos sitios protegidos.

1. Anémonas Metridium senile, en un tubo. El tinte color de rosa no lo he visto antes.
2. En la madera debajo de un muelle, vi otra anémona blanca y un par de erizos verdes de mar. Una pequeña medusa pasaba, nadando lentamente.
3. Los gusanos tubícolas normalmente parecen ser oscuros, en tonos de color púrpura, sobre todo en las oscuridades donde viven. Un rayo fuerte de luz solar iluminó este, mostrando su fuerte color rojo. Lo amarillo probablemente sea una esponja.
4. Un grupo de estos gusanos, Eudistylia vancouveri.
5. Algas marinas, quelpos de doble alas, Alaria marginata. En la parte superior de la foto, están adheridas a la base del muelle; abajo, flotan libremente. Estas algas llegan a unos 3 metros desde su base.
6. Una foca, Phoca vitulina. Había tres este dia, dando vueltas perezosamente, esperando que regresaran los pescadores con las cabezas y entrañas que desecharán al limpiar su pesca del dia en el sitio proveído en el muelle para esta tarea.

Painted, plumose, purple. Pizza?

Leaving Paradise Meadows, moving on. Our gallivanting took us to Brown's Bay. As always, I had to go first to see what was happening in the water below the wharf. On the blue plastic floats:

A painted anemone, Urticina crassicornis.

Another painted anemone, and kelp.

Mystery patch

I don't know what this round "underwater pizza" is. It doesn't help that the light was so bright, shining down through the water, that all the edges have rainbows. On the upper left, green algae cover either sea urchins or more anemones.

A narrow-ribbed kelp. Maybe Alaria marginata.

Kelp-encrusdting bryozoan patches on brown kelp. And a few limpets.

And on the rocks near the shore under a metre of incoming tide:

Purple starfish, Pisaster ochraceus. With a hermit crab for company.

Next: a few swimmers.

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En un dia caluroso, con el sol tan deslumbrante que me dejaba casi ciega, llegamos a Brown's Bay. Lo primero que hicimos, como siempre, fue ir a investigar lo que pasaba en el agua debajo de los muelles. En los flotadores de plástico azul, vimos:

1. Una anémona "pintada", Urticina crassicornis.
2. Otra anémona pintada, con quelpo.
3. No sé que cosa es esto; tal vez algo que se perdió, con criaturas nuevas creciendo en su lugar. Es difícil ver, también por la luz tan brillante que hace que todo esté rodeado de arcos iris. A la izquierda, unas hojas de alga verde cubren tal vez un erizo de mar.
4. Quelpo. Creo que es Alaria marginata.
5. Y otro tipo de quelpo, con sus colonias del briozoo Membranipora serilamella. Y unas lapas.
6. Y en la playa, bajo un metro de la marea que venía subiendo, una estrella de mar, Pisastre ochraceus. Con un pequeño cangrejo ermitaño.

Mañana; pescaditos y medusas.

Things that make me happy, 2023

 I've been looking through my "Happy" and "For Later" folders, picking out photos that made me happy in 2023. These are some of them, in no particular order.

Sapling in well-aged log, Oyster Bay, February.

Witches' butter. Or Orange Jelly, depending on the log. December, Tyee Spit.

Dried Sugar Wrack kelp, January, Oyster Bay.

Rocky tide flats, February

A gull, businesslike, going places. December, on Tyee Spit.

All the green on these two snags is lichen. Photo from July of 2022, but it's still making me happy.

Octopus in eelgrass look-alike.

The story behind this photo: my great-grandson, 9, learned that I used to like Lego, so he insisted that his mom had to send me a Lego kit for Christmas. This was the result. She's hanging out in a palm tree because I didn't have kelp on hand.

Coots are among my favourite birds. I don't see them often. December, Tyee Spit.

Part 1. There are more.

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He estado organizando la carpeta llamada "Cosas que me hacen feliz" en la computadora, escogiendo fotos que me hicieron feliz en el año 2023. Estas son algunas, en orden al azahar.

1. Un arbolito de hoja perenne, creciendo sobre un troncón viejo. En Oyster Bay, febrero.
2. El hongo "Mantequilla de Brujas", Tremella mesenterica. O si no, Jalea Anaranjada, Dacrymyces chrysospermus: depende de a cual especie pertenece la madera. Tyee Spit, diciembre.
3. Laminaria saccharina, un kelp "azucarado". Oyster Bay, en enero.
4. Zona intramareal, con rocas. Febrero.
5. Una gaviota, muy en serio, con negocios a que atender. Tyee Spit, diciembre.
6. Todo lo verde en estos dos árboles es puro liquen. La foto es de julio de 2022 en el bosque a las orillas del rio Campbell.
7. Un pulpo Lego, en algo que casi parece hierba marina Zostera sp. Pues, mi gran-nieto, de 9 años, al saber que a mi me gustaba antes construir cosas con Lego, insistió en que su mamá me enviara un juego moderno. Esto fue el resultado. El pulpo se ha subido a una palmera, ya que no encontró quelpo en mi casa.
8. Las fochas americanas, también conocidas como gallaretas o chocas, son uno de mis pájaros favoritos. Los veo raramente. Tyee Spit, en diciembre.

Esto fue la primera lista. Hay más.

White crowns and purple feather-dusters

 About those purply worms ...

It was a bright, clear day, with barely a ripple on the water; just the kind of day to be poking around under docks.

Brown's Bay. The docks float on these blue tubs, a comfortable home for a variety of critters.

I like this muddled view. Dock planks, reflections of overhead structures, algaes and anemones underwater, overlaid by those reflections.

Most of the tubs carry the giant plumose anemones and a scattering of green sea urchins.

Urchins, anemones, and a wide-open scallop mouth.

The Giant Plumose anemone, Metridium farcimen, is white or brown, sometimes with a brown column and white tentacles. It can be distinguished from the Short Plumose by the lobed tentacular crown, as seen here, as well as by its size; it grows up to 1 m. tall, whereas the Shorts barely reach 10 cm. It likes low current sites, such as in this protected bay.

The scallop, probably the Giant Rock scallop, Crassadoma gigantea, (Update: Swimming scallop, Chlamys rubida) has an orange mantle, and if you look closely, a row of tiny eyes along the rim.

The abundant eyes of a giant rock scallop (Crassadoma gigantea) are backed with tiny mirrors that reflect light, unlike our eyes that use lenses to bend and focus light. The mirror in each eye has multiple layers to gather different wavelengths of light, and reflect that light onto a double-layered retina. (Jim Auzin's Photography)

Looking at me, looking at it.

And now, the worms.

Vancouver feather-duster worms, Eudistylia vancouveri, growing on a chain.

These are large tube worms, growing to 10 cm. long. In normal lighting, they look almost black, but bright sunlight brings out the purple and blue colouring.

Feathery red algaes to go along with the feather-duster worms.

A giant acorn barnacle, feeding.

In deeper water. A brown anemone with its white crown.

These long ribbed kelps attach to the tubs and float out into the sunlight.

On the way back to dry land, I leaned over the railing of the walk to look at the seaweeds growing on the sea floor. Tiny fish circled and swooped over them, echoing the flight of the swallows overhead.

Red and green algaes, eelgrass, and fish.

Next: clambering over rocks.

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Acerca de esos gusanos plumero ...

Un dia de sol, con mucha luz y el agua casi sin olas; un dia ideal para andar rebuscando debajo de los muelles.

Foto #1: Brown's Bay. Los muelles se sostienen encima de estos botes flotantes azules, donde se encuentran comunidades de criaturas marinas.

#2: Me gustó esta foto toda revuelta, con las tablas del muelle, los reflejos de las estructuras arriba, y varios niveles de criaturas debajo, algunas vistas por medio de los reflejos.

#3: En la mayoría de los flotadores crecen las anémonas gigantes plumosas, y varios erizos de mar verdes. Aquí además hay una vieira de rocas con la boca abierta.

La anémona gigante plumosa, Metridum farcimen, es blanca o color café, a veces con la columna café y la corona blanca. Se diferencia de la anémona corta en que los tentáculos de la corona forman lóbulos, y además por el tamaño, ya que pueden crecer hasta 1 metro de largo, mientras que las otras llegan apenas a 10 centímetros. Les gustan los sitios con baja corriente, tales como esta bahía quieta.

La vieira, Chlamys rubida, tiene el manto anaranjado, y si te fijas bien, verás una hilera de ojitos en los labios.

Los ojos abundantes de una vieira de rocas (Crassadoma gigantea) tienen al fondo espejitos que reflejan la luz, en contraste con nuestros ojos que usan lentes para flexionar y enfocar la luz. El espejo en cada ojo tiene varias capas para captar la luz de distintas longitudes de onda, y reflejan esa luz hacia una retina de dos capas. (Jim Auzin's Photography)

#4: La vieira, mirándome.

#5: Y ahora, los gusanos. Son los gusanos plumero de Vancouver, Eudistylia vancouveri, y están creciendo fijados en una cadena en el agua. Estos gusanos, normalmente se ven casi negros, pero cuando la luz del sol les llega, se ven sus colores vívidos, morado o azules.

#6: En la misma cadena, unas algas rojas con filamentos finos.

#7: Un bálano gigante, buscando su comida.

#8: A la base de un pilote, las anémonas son más grandes. Aquí se ve una con la columna color café y la corona blanca.

#9: Estos quelpos se adhieren a los flotadores, y extienden sus largas hojas hacia el sol.

#10: Camino a tierra firma de nuevo, me detuve para mirar las algas al fondo del agua; algas rojas y verdes, y las hierbas Zostera. En el agua por encima, estos pececitos daban vueltas, como si copiaban los vuelos de las golondrinas en el aire arriba.

Mañana: algunas rocas.

Reds and browns

Miracle Beach is a busy summer beach. It's a wide, sandy, clean beach at low tide, in season sprinkled with happy kids, sand sculptors, and sleepy sunbathers. I went down in mid-winter, at high tide. There was no sand. All along the shore, up against the wet logs (it had been raining), were mounds of shredded algae.

On other beaches, winter high tides bring in tangles of long bull kelp and knots of eelgrass, ripped up by the roots, maybe some rockweed, and an occasional blade of Turkish towel. Here on the Miracle Beach shore, most of the algae were brown and red. A variety of kelps, but not one piece of bull kelp along the whole length of the beach. Many red algae; blades and threads and delicate feathery branches. Everywhere there was Turkish towel, new and old, from deep wine red (fresh) to magenta, to pink, then, sun-bleached, to pure white.

At the north end of the beach, more sea lettuce intermingled with the reds and browns. The gull is carrying a piece of dark brown seaweed.

Sugarwrack kelp, Saccharina latissima, with shreds of many others.

Besides the sugarwrack here, there is brown: a smooth-bladed kelp, a blade of eyelet silk, a stipe of something or other. Red: a handful of red spaghetti, a small branch of sea lace, a blade of something pink, and a fragment of Turkish towel. Green: the sea lettuce, and eelgrass.

A fragment of a winged kelp. With a few leaves of California rose, or something similar, sea lettuce, eelgrass, Turkish towel, and a smooth red blade, maybe iridescent seaweed.

Red eyelet silk, Sparlingia pertusa, bleached to brownish yellow. And a snail.

A very bleached blade of Turkish towel, showing the knobby papillae.

I brought home a small blade of Turkish towel, a clump of a small rockweed, and a handful of red spaghetti, Gracilaria sp., all of which I added to the aquarium. The kelp crab loved the red spaghetti:

It's good camouflage, almost matching his long legs.

No hiding place for a little hermit.

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La playa "Milagro", Miracle Beach, es una playa excelente para pasear un rato en el verano. Amplia, arenosa, limpia; siempre que la marea está baj, la playa está llena de niños jugando, escultores de figuras de arena, y gente soñolenta, tomando el sol. Pero yo fui a medio invierno, con la marea alta. No había arena. A todo lo largo de la playa, pilas y montones de algas marinas, rotas en pedacitos, cubrían el espacio entre el agua y los troncos caídos.

En otras playas, las altas mareas depositan nudos de hierba marina Zostera, y del kelp gigante, el de los tallos de muchos metros de largo, tal vez un poco del alga Fucus, y de vez en cuando un pedazo de toalla Turka. Aquí en la costa de Miracle Beach, casi todas las algas eran algas cafés o rojas. Había una gran variedad de alga "kelp", pero en toda la playa no vi ni un tallo del kelp gigante. De las algas rojas, había muchas diferentes, especialmente la toalla Turka por dondequiera, en todos sus colores, desde el rojo oscuro de la planta nueva, a magenta, color de rosa, y blanqueado hasta un blanco puro.

Las fotos; una gaviota con un pedazo de alga. Al extremo norte de la playa.

Una hoja de kelp "azucarada", con una variedad de pedacitos de otras algas.

Un trozo de kelp "alada".

Una lámina de lo que llaman ojete rojo. Es rojo cuando es nuevo, pero se vuelve amarillo con el tiempo. Siempre tiene esos agujeros.

Un pedazo blanqueado de toalla Turka, mostrando sus papilas.

Me traje a casa para el acuario, una rama de kelp azucarada, una plantita de Fucus, y un manojo de espagueti rojo. Al cangrejo kelp, le encantó este último: le sirve muy bien de camuflaje. Al ermitaño, no, pero como le gusta treparse a todo ... 

Golden kelp fronds

 This week's storm has cast up great tangles of bull kelp onto the beaches.

The stipe and bladder are dry and dull, but the fronds retain their glorious silky sheen and warm colour for a long time.

I brought home a fresh section of stipe for my aquarium critters. The snails have been eating it.

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 La tempestad que nos acosó esta semana ha aventado grandes marañas de kelp en las playas.

En el de la foto, el estipe (tallo) y el flotador ya están secas y arrugadas, pero las frondas retienen su lustre, como de seda, y el color vivo por mucho tiempo.

Me traje un pedazo de estipe fresco para los residentes de mi acuario. Los caracoles lo están comiendo.

Little boxes

A couple of days ago, walking with family down on the docks, spotting starfish and anemones, I saw a long streamer of kelp, loaded with bryozoan colonies, almost within my reach. My son fished it out for me.

At home, I examined it, using a lens, then the microscope, finally the camera, when the light was better.

First: the colonies themselves:

Small bryozoan colony, Membranipora membranacea

These bryozoans are tiny animals, each living in its own rectangular, glassy box. The animal inside extends its tentacles (called a lophophore) through a hole at one end of the box, capturing food from the plankton; bacteria, diatoms, and other small floaters.

Little cubicles. Each one holds one zooid.

Looking at a colony on a curve.

A colony, happily feeding.

Another side view. Look closely (or click for full size) to see the individual animals.

Out of the water, the whole colony shuts itself inside its walls. Put them in water, and in a few seconds, the first ones are out, opening and shutting, capturing dinner.

These were some of the camera shots. Tomorrow, the microscope views, and what I found there.

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El sábado fui con familia a caminar en el muelle, mirando estrellas de mar y anémonas bajo los flotadores. Vi  una hoja larga de alga marina "kelp", cubierta de manchas blancas. Mi hijo me la capturó y la traje a casa para examinarla.

La hoja estaba poblada por gran cantidad de colonias de un briozoo, Membranipora membranacea. Son animales pequeños que se hacen cajitas blancas, casi transparentes; cada animal vive en una caja. Tiene un agujero a un extremo, y por medio de este, (el lofóforo) el animalito extiende sus tentáculos para capturar su presa, que son bacteria, diatomeas, y otros criaturas del plancton.

Fuera del agua, toda la colonia se encierra en sus cajitas. En el agua, inmediatamente, se levantan y empiezan a mover sus tentáculos, capturando la cena.

Estas fotos son algunas que saqué con la cámara; además, examiné las colonias con el microscopio. Mañana subo algunas de esas fotos, con algunos otros animales que viven alrededor del briozoo.

Name the animal

It sort of looks like a peacock showing off.

Can you guess what it is?

I'm working on a bunch of photos and videos from a find yesterday afternoon. This was one that went off topic.

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Parece pavo real luciendo su plumaje. Pero no. ¿Puedes identificarlo?

Es una foto de un grupo de fotos y videos de algo que hallé ayer por la tarde. Iré subiendo los demás una vez que haya terminado de procesarlos.

Underwater at Brown's Bay, take 2

It's been three years since I visited Brown's Bay. That day, the water was calm, the surface still. On the plastic floats underneath the docks, I found a collection of plumose anemones and other tentacled critters.

This time, I saw them again, but the tide was coming in, the water racing, the docks rocking, and the wind ruffled the surface; the white anemones were visible only as whitish blurs, the rest of the underwater communities almost invisible. But there were a few sheltered spots, between boats and the dock, under the edges of the restaurant's outdoor seating. And I found something (I think) that's in all the books, but that I have never seen before.

Under a much-faded bumper ball, a group of what I think must be goose-neck barnacles. With magenta lips.

The assorted kelps attached to the underside of the restaurant float made a pleasant contrast to the deep greens of the water.

Seersucker kelp (top right) and (maybe) broad-winged kelp, with a fringe of another seaweed.

Deeper underwater, bull kelp and much-frayed blades of another one or two kelps.

Moon jelly.

In deeper shade, on the back side of a float, a few white plumose anemones, a large barnacle, other anemones (the ones I saw in 2016 had red stripes on a beige column. It's too dark to see them here. 

The gravel road in is much improved since the last visit; there are a few potholes, but nothing big enough to swallow a tire. I'll plan a drive down again soon.

Rotting cement, upside-down tables, and a handful of limpets

From Campbell River to the south, the highway winds along a coastal plain, dotted with farms, towns, resorts, and light industry. To the north and the west, the situation changes. A terrain map shows what my Mom called an upside-down tableland; many tables, all with their legs in the air.

Google maps: terrain, mid-section of northern Vancouver Island. Campbell River is just off the map, to the lower right.

Here, the roads follow river valleys, keeping as far as possible to low ground, out of the grip of ice most of the year. And here, human settlements are small and widely scattered. Sayward is "large", with 400 people. Kelsey Bay holds 120. Woss, there in the centre of the map, is home to 200. In between, beside some of the lakes, there are a few campsites and inns; a house, a cabin or two, and nothing more. Near the northern tip, where BC Ferries has a terminal, Port Hardy boasts a large population of 4000.

"Port Hardy (population: 4,000) is the last bastion of civilization in the remote and wild north end of Vancouver Island." (Yes, they actually said that. Here.)

Along this coastline, even where there is access, human influence is attenuated. Shipping; cruise ships, fishing boats, log booms, and barges pass, leaving their wash and smoke; logging trucks roar by on the highways; and, of course, there are all the general effects of climate change. Apart from those, land and marine animals and plants go about their business mostly unobserved.

Kelsey Bay is one of the spots where we have left a deeper footprint. It used to be the southern terminus of BC Ferries' Inside Passage, before the road was pushed through to Port Hardy. The bay is full of rusting hulks, crumbling cement, abandoned wharves, interspersed with the usual activities of a northern port; a small-craft harbour, a log dump, parking lots full of machinery and trucks.

Old BC Ferries' ramp supports. High tides reach to the top of the exposed metal.

View from the end of the road, towards Mt. H'kusam. With marina, and several rusting hulks.

On the tiny beach, besides the dead sea urchin, I found shreds of a variety of kelps; the big bull kelp, a curly, wide-bladed kelp, and others too torn to identify. Rockweed is well-entrenched, growing firmly on the cement boat launch; I pawed through it, looking for small critters, and found beach hoppers. On the rocks, mostly too big or too wedged in to flip, barnacles and limpets waited for the water to come back.

Empty limpet shell.

An unusual pattern. This one's alive, and holding on tight.

Limpet on a stone.

Row of mask limpets (Tectura persona) on a rock. With two slipper snails, and another, possibly a ribbed limpet. Lottia digitalis. I had to move a rock to get at these.

All along the coastline, around the marina and the rotting remains of abandoned equipment, the tops of a bull kelp forest floated, their holdfasts still attached below.

The tide is low; at high tide, only the floating blades will be seen.

Keeping a few metres shy of the rocky shore. The water's pink, looking south, towards the setting sun.

From the old BC Ferries' dock, looking north. "My" tiny beach is in the shelter of that big rock on the left. Bare rock marks the high tide line. I was actually trying to take a photo of a loon, who, of course, dived just as I pressed the shutter. There's an eagle on one of the trees, though.

I won't be heading farther north from here until spring; I've been warned of an icy hill, just beyond the Sayward Village turnoff from the highway. Meanwhile, I pore over maps and aerial views, planning, planning.