Arrows pointing backwards and wavy letters

In January, when the water is too cold for wading, and the wet stones and sand are cold enough to cause a bone-deep ache in rock-flipping and sand-digging fingers, we behave more sedately than usual, walking upright on the sand, hands in gloves and pockets, eyes peeled for what we can see without stopping and getting chilled.

Sand, water and sky. Patterns in blue and grey. Laurie usually looks up to the sky and the distant snowy peaks. I'm more likely to watch what's in front of my feet.

Duck footprints. Probably mallards. Three toes, and distinct webbing.  Ducks toe in, which makes them waddle.

A duck has four toes; three facing forward, webbed, and a fourth, called a hallux. It faces backwards, is small and higher up on the leg. Sometimes it leaves a mark on the footprint. More often, it doesn't.

Gull tracks. The tip of the hallux left a mark in this wet sand. The footprint is about twice the size of the duck prints above, and the webbing isn't as marked. Like ducks, they toe in.

Heron tracks in soft sand. I don't know what makes those dotted-line furrows.

Heron track with my big boot for measurement. About 6.5 inches. (The heron's foot, not mine.) These are big birds.

Heron track on hard-packed sand. He drags that rear toenail. There is no webbing; the heron is not a swimmer.

Something different; check this out!

Just sand, sculpted by the tide.

But: this was flat, flat beach. Very flat; I want to emphasize this. But look at the photo from a bit of a distance; to me, it looks hilly. From a few steps back, the hills grow into small mountain ranges. And sometimes, when it catches my eye suddenly, I see what looks like letters among the lines. I can't read them; they morph into different shapes with the slightest head movement. (If I'm looking for them, I don't see them.)

What do you see?

About those animal tracks ...

Maybe that was too easy; the animals that made the tracks I posted yesterday were pretty well identified just by location. Kirk weighed in with the answer before dawn.

Hermit crab tracks.

Maybe I should have asked for the species.

However obvious the track makers were, I failed to recognize them when we first saw them on the beach. Which is surprising, and a bit embarrassing; after years of interacting with hermits, and more years of following snail trails up and down the mud flats on this same beach, I had never noticed any before. My (flimsy) excuse is that my hermits were usually underwater, and the snail trails are mostly in mud, which oozes and doesn't retain those pin-prick prints. It was only in the damp, firm sand, protected from the wind in valleys between wave ridges, that the footprints stayed put long enough for us to see them. Where the hermits crossed ridges, the orderly line of many-legged travel became only a wind-blown, blurry mussing of the sand.

I discovered the source when, at the end of another trail, I picked up another small snail shell. This one had sand clumped around the opening; I gently brushed it off, until I exposed just the tip of a hermit's main pincer. Poor frightened beastie, trying to make himself invisible deep in his shell! I apologized, and replaced him in his cosy trench.

No, I don't know the species for sure, either. By the location of the tracks, the size of the shell and shape of the pincer, I think it was probably a greenmark hermit; we have found many, a bit farther down this beach.

A few days earlier, on the White Rock beach, we found another intriguing set of marks. I always notice sandstone; I love the swirling or wavy patterns preserved there. On a big sandstone rock among the rip-rap separating the beach from the railroad track something had left its mark, long ago.

Footprint or coincidental cluster of clay lumps?

This was about the size of a medium dog's paw print. In the photo, it almost looks raised, but it was a depression in the sandstone, partially filled in with a fine clay, hardened, but flaky. (The little piece of wood is sitting loose on top of the clay/stone; knowing that forces my eyes to recognize the shape as an indentation.)

And when I stepped back to leave, I realized that the print was part of a sort of track:

More indentations, in clusters about a foot apart.

Are these fossilized prints, or is it my imagination running away with me? Probably the latter, but it's fun to speculate.

What animal made these tracks?

Do you know? If not, make a guess; let your imagination soar!

I'd never seen anything like these before. We found them halfway down the beach on Boundary Bay, at low tide. There were maybe a dozen separate trails, following the valleys between ripples in the sand.

Either the end or the start of one trail. Central groove, paired footprints or claw prints on either side.

In looser sand, the footprints were less defined, the central groove deeper.

The groove is almost non-existent here.

Here's a hint. The shell at the end of this trail is about 1/2 an inch long. It appears to be empty.

What do you think?

(I do know, because I found one track-maker. I'll post the answer tomorrow.)

A time machine would have helped with this

We were sitting quietly in the evening after another strenuous day in the garden, half dozing, half watching a slide show of our recent photos. "We have a good life," I said. "So much beauty, so much to do, so many new things to learn ..." So many questions to find answers to, I could have added.

Here are a couple of those questions.

On White Rock beach last Tuesday, the tide was low and going out, there was no wind and the water was smooth, the wavelets retreating down the sand gently, barely stirring the sea lettuce as it went. We walked west, towards Kwomais Point, staying mostly on the drying sand.

Something else had been going the same way.

What made these?

Small footprints went straight along the beach, a purposeful walk, with no meandering and only a couple of stops to dig at something in the sand.  They went on and on, directly west, crossing several of the streams emptying onto the beach, a long walk out in the open for most woodland creatures.

Four toes with sharp claws, and a rounded heel.

About an inch and a half long.

This was not a dog; it traveled in a straight line, it kept a steady pace, and its gait was unusual; four steps in a group, one in front of the next, then a long space, then four more. And although sometimes human footprints went alongside (as mine would, too), they varied; barefoot, or shod with an assortment of sole prints. Mostly, the tracks went on alone.

After a time, I met tracks coming back towards me, then the end of the line; the animal did a U-turn, for no perceptible reason, and headed back in the same manner, four steps, jump, four, jump ...

Going and coming, with the U at the end. Barefoot human alongside here.

So what was it? I've spent the evening looking at animal tracks, comparing the shapes, the number of toes, the claws, and the gait. First, the most common around here; raccoon, skunk, fox, coyote. It's none of those. It's not a domestic cat; they sheathe their claws.

The animal whose tracks are most like this is a mink. They have five toes, but the fifth often does not show up on their tracks. And they bound, rather than walk, making a pattern of four steps and a pause. So do other mustelids, like otters (but they're bigger). So do skunks. (Remember Pepe le Pew; bounce, bounce, bounce!)

But. Minks are nocturnal. What would one be doing walking brazenly down a public beach in broad daylight? And they usually hunt in fresh water. (But here's a photo of mink tracks on a Vancouver Island beach.)

So I am left with the question unanswered. I am inclined to go with mink, but it's not quite a match. What do you think?

Question # 2:  We passed 7 dying Lion nudibranches, Melibe leonina.  I had never seen any so big before; most I've found have been under 2 inches long, even with the hood extended. These were all around 4 inches long.

The tentacles on the left are along the rim of the feeding hood. The paddle-like shapes are cerata; defense and decoy organs; they also help with respiration. 

Another one, with foot for a measuring stick. 4 inches.

What made these wash up on the beach and die?

At least this question was easily answered. Melibe lives for one year. In the spring, she* mates, lays her eggs on kelp and eelgrass, then dies. These would have finished their egg-laying, and are moving aside for the next generation.

*Most sea slugs, Melibe included, are hermaphrodites; each animal has both male and female organs. And they all lay eggs. "She" just works better for them.

There's a beautiful photo of Melibes mating, here, on the Sea Slug Forum. This was in February, but I've found records of egg-laying in this area from March to July (photos).

Midnight visitor

What made these tracks?


Tuesday night, around midnight, I looked out and saw these in the new snow. They are bigger than a cat's feet, smaller than some dogs. They came out from under a fence with about 6 inches clearance.

Clearly marked toes, a tendency to drag. No tail dragging.

Closer view.

There was no poking around; the tracks went straight across the patio, down the path and across the lawn towards the street.

What animal made them? My guess is a raccoon or a skunk.* What do you think?

*A while later: I think it's a raccoon, because of the gait pattern; one big, one small, side by side. Next step, the sides alternate. I found some good photos and diagrams at Bear Tracker.
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