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| Tiny Shag Rug Nudibranch at Duxbury Reef |
When you see pictures of sea slugs like the one above, you can be forgiven for thinking they are fairly large animals. This one was probably no more than five-eighths of an inch long (~15mm). They do get bigger, but it seemed like the junior models were the main ones I saw in this and a couple other species.
The -1.7' low tide on Wednesday landed just a few minutes after sunrise. It's been a while since I've been to Duxbury Reef, so I put it in Google Maps, thinking I might need help finding it if it was still dark when I got there. Unfortunately, the directions took me to a useless overlook on a dirt road. I'd forgotten that the destination to the parking area needs to be entered as Agate Beach in Bolinas.
Tidepooling conditions were very good, with no fog and minimal wind. I was cold the entire time, though. I'd left my jacket in the car, thinking the sun would come up and the jacket would just be in the way. I was on the reef at sunrise, which was 6 a.m., but the sun didn't rise high enough over the mesa to warm the reef until two hours later.
On the way home I stopped for a while to watch the bird life at Bolinas Lagoon, then made a quick stop at Rock Spring on Mt. Tam to hike out to the trail cams. One of them is still not working, even though it does power up. Might need to buy replacements, and I'll probably go with an older name brand. The newcomers I've been using have been a disappointment.
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| Mossy Chiton (Mopalia muscosa) & Limpet |
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| Wentletrap Sea Snail (Epitonium sp.) |
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| Sunburst Anemone (Anthopleura sola) |
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| Possibly a Shag Rug Nudibranch (Aeolidia loui) |
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| Rising Shaggy |
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| Northern Kelp Crab (Pugettia producta) |
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| San Diego Dorid (Diaulula sandiegensis) |
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| Showing off its gill bouquet. |
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| Can't resist a clean sunburst anemone (especially since I didn't see a single sea star of any kind out there). |
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| Striped Shore Crab & Friends |
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| Opalescent Nudibranch (Hermissenda opalescens) |
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| Opalescent on the Move |
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| Striped Shore Crab (Pachygrapsus crassipes) |
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| Olive's Aeolid (Anteaeolidiella oliviae) |
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| Lined Chiton (Tonicella sp.) |
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| Hilton's Aeolid (Phidiana hiltoni) |
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| Hilton on the Move |
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| Baby Opalescent Nudibranch |
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| Baby Hilton's Nudibranch |
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| Mossy Chiton |
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| Plainfin Midshipman (Porichthys notatus) |
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| A large flock of (elegant?) terns was gathered on the mudflats of Bolinas Lagoon during low tide. Something spooked them into the air a couple of times. |
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| Most of the shorebirds were too far out to photograph, but this long-billed curlew was just close enough to observe for a while. |
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| After preening and stretching, it eventually began to hunt. Here the curlew is trying to extricate a crab from the algae it's clinging to. |
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| Success for the curlew; not so much for the crab. |
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| A snowy egret winged past but landed kind of far away. |
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| Wingbeats |
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| I pulled over to check out a couple groups of napping harbor seals when this great egret waded into view and quickly made a stab. |
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| Success |
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| Harbor Seals on a Lazy Morning |
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| Cormorants and gulls were hanging out near a second group of harbor seals that was farther from shore. |
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| My trail cams on Mt. Tam recently caught a raccoon eating honeycomb, which I believe came from this wasp nest on a nearby log. It appears the wasps are rebuilding. The nearby pool of water where my cams are is no longer flowing at all. Not sure how long the pool will last. |
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| Cool Clouds Over Mt. Shasta |
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