Mostly sunny this morning, becoming partly sunny this afternoon.
While out today, I went by Little Magic Island. My initial motivation was to check on Draba grandis, a plant that is common on rocky shorelines in the area. I have only found it three places along the road system.
The Draba was up. I guess I don’t know if the rosettes formed last summer/fall, or have already grown this much during the winter.
I noticed some tidepools I think I’ve before, but probably haven’t spent much time looking at. Usually if I’m there for low tide stuff, much more shoreline is exposed, and that’s where I’m spending my time.
Today I realized that despite there relatively small size and location at about the 2ft tide level, they have some interesting stuff in them.
The highlight was a branched sapsucker (Placida dendritica), a species I have only seen once before.
This was only the second time I've observed a branched sapsucker
Longliners have begun delivering their catch after season opened on the 10th.
Accordingly, gulls have gathered in greater numbers in the channel.
I didn’t see anything unusual on my first visit. I went to look a second time, but right as I parked, a dog walker went down on the ramp and all the gulls there took flight.
I took that as a sign to go elsewhere, and ended up checking the turnaround (where I had noticed some gulls on an earlier drive by, but hadn’t stopped).
I didn’t find many gulls there, but did take some pictures of the Sandhill Crane with some nice light.
My iNaturalist Observations for Today
