On a Lifelong Journey to Learn my Place
When I was young, there were many occasions I spent playing down on the beach between Totem Park and the Sitka Sound Science Center. Although I saw many things, there are not too many that I remember noticing and/or being aware of during my childhood. Although I wouldn’t have been able to tell you any … Read more
Recently we visited Magic Island (out at Halibut Point Rec) during a low tide and I took advantage of the opportunity to photograph some of the more obvious tidepool denizens which, for whatever reasons, I had not really spent much time with before. Prime among these are the giant green sea anemones (Anthopleura xanthogrammica). As … Read more
We drove out the road today to check on the Swainson’s Thrush nest, but couldn’t see any birds using the nest. There were however many birds active in the brushy area adjacent to the road. Several thrushes were utilizing the ripe elderberries that were abundant on one large bush. In addition there were other smaller … Read more
This morning the kids and I took advantage of sunny weather and a low tide to visit John Brown’s Beach and check out some of the work being done by some visiting scientists. They were setting up experiments in about 20 small tide pools. At the time they were simply working on the setup and … Read more
This morning we went down to the science center for a brief talk followed up by beach walk. The talk focused on possible effects of climate change on intertidal life, highlighting some of the results seen during the speaker’s PhD research in California. The speaker is one of two resident fellows (SIRF) at the science … Read more
Sea Cauliflower (Leathesia marina) seems to be a relatively easy to identify seaweed with relatively thick flesh growing in lumpy masses. It was abundant at John Brown’s beach early this summer, though I’ve not been familiar with it long enough to have a sense of how common it is more generally in the area. The … Read more