A strange white pigeon. I'm not sure if it's just a weird rock dove or what.
Small birds with blue backs and white bellies. There was a huge group of them flying around near the law building today on campus. I couldn't get a picture because they wouldn't stop swooping in circles around me or land anywhere nearby.
A small bird with a light brown chest, gray wings, and yellow and black on its tail and face. This bird was sitting high in a tree near the water's edge at Union Bay Natural Area. It was just sitting up there, but I could not get a picture with my iPhone.
It is difficult to tell from the picture, but these starlings were juveniles as they were brown with black beaks. They made the harsh trilling call that adult black european starlings make, which led me to the conclusion that they were younger birds. There were a ton of them all over the field in a giant flock with adult starlings among them.
Was flying in circles around me as I walked out of UBNA. It was difficult to get a picture, but it had a deep blue back and head and a light orange belly. I'm not sure what they were doing, but a bunch of these were flying around me and got within inches of me a few times.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These little sand fleas (also called beach hoppers) are a common sight on the higher parts of the intertidal zone. They like to burrow under dried up and rotting seaweed to hide from the hot sun during the day. Tiny fleas like this one bite surprisingly hard and can cause all kinds of dangerous infections. They will often travel in large groups, though this one was on its own. This flea was only about a centimeter long but could jump fairly high despite its size.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. This observation was a surprising and exciting find for me. I have never seen a live geoduck before, and these geoduck siphons are the closest I've ever come. There were about six of them in a small group poking above the surface in the soft sand. They were visibly sucking in water, which is because the geoducks are trying to eat the plankton in the water. When poked, these little siphons would bury themselves in the sand and come back up after a few seconds. Geoducks are the largest bivalves in the Puget Sound, the largest burrowing clam in the world, and one of the longest living animals on earth (they can live up to 146 years).
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These little anemones were in groups buried in the sand all over the beach. It was odd to me because I had only ever seen them living on rocks, not in the sand. A few of them, like the one in the second picture, had their tentacles out, which were light green with pink tips. Each anemone was about an inch across and the one in the picture was one of only a few that was on its own, the rest were in large groups. Occasionally, they would squirt water at me from surprisingly great distances.
The striped shell is the shield limpet. For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. I only saw a few of these limpets of this same coloration on the rocks in the tide pools at this beach. There were others, but they were of different species or had different coloration. This limpet caught my eye because of its odd black stripes. Limpets are a species of sea snail that have very simple, flat shells. They stick themselves to rocks, just like this one in particular was.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this beach, please see the journal entry for May 13, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These blue mussels can be distinguished from the more common California mussel by their size. Blue mussels are much smaller in comparison. These blue mussels were covering a few of the rocks in the tide pools and were much less common than the larger California mussels. This little guy had fallen off his rock, so I picked it up for a picture. It was only about an inch long and two centimeters wide and its shell was a dark blue with no markings.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of the area in which this was found, please see the journal entry for May 12, 2012 here on iNaturalist (titled "lunch stop area"). This neon green lichen was found growing all over the coniferous trees at that area. It was one of the more commonly spotted lichens of that particular area, especially since it was so easy to see by its bright coloration. It was growing in small patches all over the trees' bark along with other lichen species. This is a foliose species, though it is hard to tell in the picture I got. The lichen I am referring to in the picture is the small, yellow one.
For more information about the habitat, vegetation, and weather of this area, see the journal entry for May 12, 2012 here on iNaturalist. This hemlock was growing just off the path and gave us plenty of trouble identifying it because it hadn't flowered yet. The leaves and stalk gave it away.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of Money Creek, the area in which this species was found, please see the journal entry for May 12, 2012 here on iNaturalist. These teeny tiny reddish mushrooms were found growing in a small hole in the log on which the oyster mushroom was found. When the cap was broken off, it leaked a red fluid, which was a good indicator of its species. At full size, these mushrooms are about 3 to 4 inches tall and the caps are about 4 centimeters wide.
For more information on the habitat, vegetation, and weather of Money Creek, the area in which this species was found, please see the journal entry for May 12, 2012 here on iNaturalist. This inky cap was found growing in a shady area under some western red cedars behind the decomposing log on which the oyster mushroom was found at Money Creek. It is a very common fungus here in North America and is one of the edible species, though it is poisonous when taken with alcohol. The mushrooms often grow in disturbed areas and appear in late spring to early summer. The cap will eventually flatten out and then melt.
