Mile Rock Beach

 

Mussels on the Rocks, Mile Rock Beach

It was a year ago this month that I last visited Mile Rock Beach. It was sunny then, but kind of misty this morning. Once again, any hope of finding actual tidepools to explore was dashed by crashing surf that kept me on my toes. I'd love to get down there during a daytime minus tide with virtually no swell at all, assuming that ever even happens.

[UPDATE: Thanks to Eric Sanford and Jackie Sones at the Bodega Marine Laboratory for clearing up the curiosities photographed below. I've left my original titles and included their corrections and amplifications in parentheses.]

Shorebreak at Mile Rock Beach

Barnacled Boulders

Periwinkles & Barnacles
(The larger snails are actually striped dogwhelks, Nucella ostrina, and the periwinkles, Littorina sp., are the tiny black snails near them.)

This little aggregating anemone was one of the few open ones I could find. Virtually all of the tidepools were subject to frequent inundation by incoming swells.

One creature I thought I might find is chitons, but I didn't see any. These barnacles were interesting, but I have no idea what all the white circular things are. (The barnacles are Balanus glandula, and the circular things are the basal plates of where the barnacles were before they were knocked off the rock.)

The shore crabs were all too fast for me to catch out in the open.

The sudsy stuff is a mystery.

I thought these might be some kind of egg cases, but as I was thumbing through my hefty Intertidal Invertebrates of California, I came across another possibility: a relative of stalked vase sponge (Leucilla nuttingi), but apparently without a stalk. I didn't see any of the pink sponge I found last year. (Turns out these are egg cases of the striped dogwhelks!)

All the jumble, soon to be underwater again.

Ochre Sea Stars

Mile Rock Beach

These reddish-orange snails stood out among all the subdued colors, but I saw only two of them. (Turns out they are an uncommon color morph of the striped dogwhelk.)

Gooseneck Barnacles & Mussels

Western Gull on the Prowl

Inundated Potential Tidepool Area

Another, larger ochre sea star clings to a rock.

That's the same sea star.

The Old Mile Rock Lighthouse

This thick and twisty cypress on the stairs leading to Mile Rock Beach is supported in part by blocks of wood.

Vista Point Above Mile Rock Beach
(Later in the day, someone walking their dog slipped down the cliff and had to be rescued by emergency crews.)

Bushtits on Coyote Brush at Land's End

There were only the two bushtits foraging together. Maybe the small flocks break up during mating season.

Seaside Daisies at Land's End

I heard the Northern flicker calling out, but it took a while to finally spot him.

He was presumably going after insects in the rotten wood of the tree stump, but I couldn't tell if he was catching anything more than wood pulp.

Northern Flicker at Land's End

Flicker's Close-up

This is a mature puffball from the batch I spotted earlier this month near Metson Lake.

The Allen's hummingbird dropped by to collect cattail fluff again this morning.

Those tiny egg cases appear to be producing tiny white flies. Note the yellowish fly in the bottom center-left -- the same kind I saw a couple days ago.

The pied-billed grebe at Blue Heron Lake was busy making adjustments to her nest, and for the first time in a long time I was able to see the egg. I was a little surprised that the egg hadn't hatched yet, since I first saw it more than two weeks ago (gestation apparently lasts more like 3-4 weeks). I briefly thought I saw two eggs in the nest, but the hen got back on top of them before I could find a clear viewpoint through the tangle of branches. 

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