August 2007 · 3 November 2007, 13:10 by Julie Loyd
07.aug.01Field Notes from Plankton Tow, Brett Mc and Jill S: 14:50-55, TNC from red buoy (no satellite connection) to 48.4.702, 123.03.179 (just beyond white buoy): Calm, hot day. Hard to row – had to place net right behind boat to get 1/3 out of the water (2 feet behind). Dolphin! Cool. (Pacific White-sided?).
15:26pm, Dock,—. 15:31pm 48.41.091, 123.02.326. The rowboat tow: There is a lot of drag on the boat – it is very slow. Should we tow more on distance than time?
06.aug.03David L at Cowlitz 13:30: Three “chum” (probably not, may be chinook) smolt. Occasional leapers off Sandy Point at least 1 mile.
06.aug.04David L: 6:00 am, Cowlitz: Plenty of very small fish furring on surface in partical schools, even one mile off. No sample.
13:30 One leaper mid-President’s Channel.
16:20 Apparent salmon smolt two feet below surface next to dock – dozens – nearly mixed with “stickleback” on surface. Sampled crab larvae and apparent exoskeletons.
Kathy C: At about 20:30 at the Seltzers, two adult and two baby otters were gathered on a log to eat a fish. Then an eagle swooped down and stole the fish.
07.aug.07Glen R: 14:00, Cowlitz Dock. About low tide, wind 8 mph, temp about 78+, sunny, clear. Still barn swallows at dock. Saw about 15 – 18 Lion’s Mane Jellies 6 – 15” diameter from dock. Bryan L said Smith’s (next to W’s) never saw so many wash up on beach. Schools of several thousand herring at dock, being chased by juvenile seal. Also unidentified 1” fish, small schools of 75 – 150, approx six schools, wide bodied gray green. Too many ripples to get good look.
07.aug.08 Julie L: 12:00 Cowlitz Dock, sunny with scattered clouds, about 75º, light breeze. Flock of about 100 gulls on water South of dock, maybe 1/4 mile away, flying around and calling. We used to call these “herring balls” but once David scooped up some fish from where gulls were gathered and they were juvenile sand lance. So, now I just say that it is a group of calling gulls. Fish pocking the surface between the dock and Disney. Two kingfishers flying around dock, occasionally looking as though they’d land on the dock railing but then not. Maybe 5 barn swallows in the air at a time, chirping from under the dock. Small flock of 30ish swimming pigeon guillemots at Disney. 1 crow on the rock at L’s. No seals.
07.aug.09 Bob W: The bay used to have so many herring that when you looked over the side of the boat it was like a mirror. Diving ducks would go down and drive the herring up, and there’d be a thousand gulls screaming and diving at the herring as well. Blackfish (orcas) used to come in and cavort around in there.
Tillie S 17 – 20:00: Walked beach from Frances’ Cove to TNC trailhead. Spent a long time examining sandpipers through binoculars below Marshall’s, right by the TNC property line. Western Sandpipers (several, total of >10 for the whole stretch) and at least two Spotted Sandpipers. The Spotteds have a totally different gait – bob, bob, bobbing. Tony sees them out on Disney, associates them with rockier shores than the Western Sandpiper.
Lots of gulls: Bonaparte’s and Mew gulls by the TNC/Marshall line, closer to the otter trail (the little blip in the Cowlitz shoreline), lots of California Gulls. Mom saw four Heerman’s same day, more towards Sandy Point. She’s seen Heerman’s several times this year. Also thinks she saw an immature Glaucous-winged. Mews mixed some with California Gulls.
Tide book says should have been a flood tide, but observation contradicts – looked high around 17:00 then ebbing, so I walked some on new wet sand.
Arrived W August 1, 2007, since then have seen these butterflies: Lorquin’s Admiral, Western Tiger Swallowtail, Cabbage White, Pine White (only on beach). Also a Comma, probably a Satyr Angelwing but I’m not sure.
07.aug.10 Julie L: Water Quality workshop with Russel Barsh at L’s. We found cadmium and chlorides in every sample from around the island, and also found that the Brita charcoal filters reduces their concentration. See http://thewhelk.org/news for a verrrrrry lengthy report.
07.aug.11 Tillie S: 8:00 A.M. (Low tide at 11:11) Waking up on the deck of “Casa del Scott,” very tip of Sandy Point, overlooking a selection of gulls, murres, and others.
Total gulls: 300-400 (I did some counting)
Heerman’s Gull (at least 40. I didn’t recognize young Heerman’s; just counted adults.)
Gllaucous-winged Gull
Common Murre (lots)
Rhinocerous Auklet (lots)
Red-necked phalarope? (10-20?)
Brown Creeper
Robin
Chicken
Barn Swallow
California Gull (see below)
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Red-breasted nuthatch
Great Blue Heron
Cormorant (I think pelagic)
A young Loon – Common or Pacific
Common Loon (2 adults)
Canada Goose (44)
Starling (100??)
The “California Gull” I’m not absolutely positive about. Black wing tips, yellowish feet (there were lots of them, and I saw no pink feet on a gull with black wing tips). Red gape. The bill: Yellow, big, red spot. However, I couldn’t see any dark with the red spot, like I see in the book. Whatever it is, it is the most abundant gull here this morning.
Saw no Mew Gulls.
All of the above observed just on the tip of Sandy Point, A property. Tide low and ebbing. Gulls feeding, sleeping and preening on sea lettuce rocks and sand flat.
07.aug.11 Tillie S: 15:40, Huntley’s Beach, incoming tide, high at 19:04.
Double-crested Cormorant (1)
Sandpipers (Western, I think, 3)
Kingfisher (2)
Barn Swallow (2)
A great many seabirds out near Skipjack – Murres, Rhinocerous Auklets, Gulls, etc. Murres vocal.
07.aug.12 Tillie S: 15:00 North side of Disney Point, near the tip, flock of about 100 Red-necked Phalaropes. (photo from http://www.mbr-pwrc.usgs.gov/Infocenter/i2230id.html)
Julie L at Cowlitz 18:00: High tide 20:09, sunny and flat calm at Cowlitz. Beach seine with Tina W-E. Caught juvenile “chinook”, pinks, and herrings by the bucketful, near the big rock towards Disney. The herring were about 100 cm and the salmon slightly larger. Later, DNA testing showed that most of the “chinook” were some other kind of salmon.
07.aug.14Glen R: Cowlitz, 18:45. Water mirror glassy, clear near high tide 62º. About 600 dark gull-like birds by Mouatt Reef, floating. Neither Barry nor I could identify them. Long pointed wings, not diving, only dipping on surface. Twenty seals in a group by furthest boats to West, heading towards Sandy Point. Dave says possible Phalarope, some herring near
Julie L: Cowlitz,19:30. Clear, high tide at 20:30. Seal pup cruising near rock where we caught 100’s of herring and tens of pinks yesterday in the seine net. Seven Crows on beach, one bird swimming by mooring buoy, no others visible. Sounds of planes and distant motorboats, a sweet evening.
Tillie S: 100-150 Heerman’s Gulls on North Beach, hanging out as a flock in front of Harris’. Tide low. Other gulls in the bay (not in flocks) included Mew, Glaucous-winged, and probably California Gulls (drab yellowish legs, black wing tips, bill with spot on it). Some of the Heerman’s seemed to be resting; others stretched their wings up sometimes. Two blue herons to the Southwest.
Tony saw a pair of loons at TNC trailhead this morning; Chris and I saw a solitary one this afternoon (6:30 or 7). Chris hit a rock into the water and what must have been a school of little fish made a slew of sympathetic splashes.
SLUGS: More black slugs this year. Other years long ago I never used to see them – just banana slugs. This year between house and tent hard to avoid stepping on a black slug. In July, saw a garter snake with one in its mouth, but after writhing around the snake failed to swallow it (or got disgusted by the slime) and eventually the snake departed, while slug remained.
07.aug.15 Julie L: Noon. Sunny, water choppy. Went to Hammond for COASST. Nootka roses are developing their hips. Yarrow in bloom. Cat’s Ear at the Point (also blooming like crazy in every meadow on the island) Saw a kingfisher, few crows, swallows, no eagles or gulls. Fewer jellies than at beginning of month. Waded around at Hammond and scared up some small sculpins and a school of maybe 500 1” fish, but no juvenile salmon at that depth. Perhaps they’ve gone deeper. A three inch shiner perch was floating dead on the surface.
Dan C: About a dozen jacksnipes, or sandpipers, at the clay point near Hammond, which is unusual now for W but not for Anacortes. Whales used to come in between Skipjack and the beach there and clean out the fishing. And where have the grebes gone? They used to call them helldivers.
07.aug.16: Julie L: 17:00 at dock, saw a few Barn Swallows and dragonflies, no other wildlife. It was choppy enough so that I couldn’t see any fish.
07.aug.17: Julie L: Cowlitz, 9:00. A few dragonflies, Barn Swallows, a Crow with a white tail feather (we’ve seen one like that at my house in previous years). Debris line snakes from two rocks on East side of dock through moorings. Faint pressure line at West side of float, inside of which water seems to bulge up.
13:00 Carol S: The whales would come between Skipjack and the beach in August. There used to be a kelp forest out at the end of both C’s First Point and Second Point. Her mother and grandmother used to fish for cod in the kelp there. As I talked with Carol, I could see seals slapping the water towards Skipjack.
Dorothy H: You might get morels around Easter if you spread apple pomace in the garden the previous fall. There were shaggy manes at Scott Gordon’s for about two weeks, of all sizes. The russulas are out right now.
Shelly H: The kelp forest out by C’s Points used to be a nursery for baby seals.
Tillie S: Dock dinghy disappeared night of August 17.
07.aug.19: Camilla L counted 63 lion’s mane jellies stranded on the beach between the Cowlitz Dock and the rock below Skip L’s. She’d meant to go swimming but didn’t because of all the jellies.
Tillie S: Jaegers expected with Terns, though I haven’t seen them. Mike C reports lots of terns over by Point Hammond Farm. Hermit Thrush and Water Pipit expected soon.
Pam M: Brooks R beach. Large flock (100 – 200) of beautiful grey gulls with slate colored wings, black legs, orangey red beaks. Standing near water, about 1/5 of the group in the water. “Heerman’s Gulls.” Much smaller group of light-colored gulls standing next to them. Also a few large mottled white and brown birds mixed in.
A Heerman’s Gull chased a mottled one across the beach-side edge of the group (as if trying to drive it away?). Reaching the outer perimeter of the group, the Heerman’s Gull squatted briefly a couple times, as did a few more of the nearby Heerman’s (as if marking territory?? Signaling something?).
07.aug.20: Julie L: I’ve begun to notice those globe spiderwebs in the conifer forests. Camilla and I found brilliant orange mushrooms that were probably an agarica or lactarius that had been colonized by a fungus to make a lobster mushroom. It’s supposed to be edible. A spore print yielded white.
Tillie S: List of birds I saw and/or heard on W, Summer 2007. These were mostly observed from the beach in Cowlitz Bay, on the Cowlitz Nature Conservancy Preserve, and from commonly traveled roads and trails. I also did Tony’s mail run sometimes – birds observed from the boat I considered “W birds” if they were closer to W than to other land. Most were quite near shore. No great surprises on the list:American Crow
American Goldfinch
American Robin
Bald Eagle
Band-tailed Pigeon
Barn Swallow
Barred Owl
Belted Kingfisher
Bewick’s Wren
Bonaparte’s Gull
Brown Creeper
Brown-headed Cowbird
Bushtit
California Gull
Canada Goose
Cedar Waxwing
Chestnut-backed Chickadee
Common Loon
Common Murre
Common Tern
Common Raven
Common Yellowthroat
Cooper’s Hawk
Dark-eyed Junco
Double-crested Cormorant
Downy Woodpecker
European Starling
Glaucous-winged Gull
Great Blue Heron
Great Horned Owl
Hairy Woodpecker
Heerman’s Gull
Hooded Merganser
House Wren
Killdeer
MacGillivray’s Warbler
Mallard
Marbled Murrelet
Mew Gull
Northern Flicker
Northern Rough-winged Swallow
Olive-sided Flycatcher
Orange-crowned Warbler
Osprey
Pelagic Cormorant
Pied-billed Grebe
Pigeon Guillemot
Red-breasted Nuthatch
Red-necked Phalarope
Red-tailed Hawk
Red-winged Blackbird
Rhinocerous Auklet
Rufous Hummingbird
Rufous-sided Towhee (Spotted Towhee)
Song Sparrow
Spotted Sandpiper
Swainson’s Thrush
Townsend’s Warbler
Turkey Vulture
Violet-green Swallow
Wn Flycatcher (Pacific Slope Flycatcher)
Wn Sandpiper
Wn Screech Owl
White-crowned Sparrow
Wilson’s Warbler
Winter Wren
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Birds Tillie did not identify, but that were reported to her:
Black Oystercatcher (Barry M, Tony) (Tony saw one flying across Cowlitz Bay – unusual. Most years, they nest at Hammond.)
Black-headed Grosbeak (Tony)
Golden-crowned Kinglet (Tony)
House Finch (Tony)
Hutton’s Vireo (Tony)
Peregrin Falcon (Tony)
Pileated Woodpecker (Jennie L, Tony)
Purple Finch (Tony)
Ring-necked duck (Tony, in June)
Sharp-shinned Hawk (Tony)
Solitary Vireo (Tony)
Tree Swallow (Barry says they are nesting in the orchard on Point Hammond Farm.)
Varied Thrush (Tony)
Warbling Vireo (Tony)
Widgeon (Tony, in June)
Wood-duck (Josie)
Should ask Winnie about Stellar’s Jay and Bs about Saw-whet Owl.
Birds not observed on W this summer, as far as I know – absent birds:
Black-capped Chickadee (as expected),
House Sparrow (as expected),
Marsh Wren (Where is it? They are a standard nesting bird, here, in the Nature Conservancy Swamp, but we haven’t found it this year. Maybe it’s just hiding – it’s a bit reclusive???),
Rock Dove (as expected),
Stellar’s Jay (ask Winnie – sometimes she has seen them, other years).
07.aug.21: Julie L: At Glenn’s beach for 2.5 hours in the forenoon. Saw a few gulls, very little wrack, no sea mammals. In the late evening we boated to Disney to collect kelp. The fronds are shredded at the ends, but none were colonized with the round pinkish stuff that we noticed last month near Hammond. The discolorations on the Disney kelp were also brownish, though clearly not kelp. There was a run-over rat on the Sandy Point road at Don B’s driveway.
Camilla L: She used to sit at her desk in school and wish that the maple leaves would turn so it would be closer to her birthday on Oct 7. Now, some of the leaves have already turned despite the plentiful rains.
Hallie A: 15:00 There was a flock of >50 – 60 first year Heerman’s Gulls, I believe, on beach below and slightly North of the the Farm Beach.
07.aug.21Tillie S: Cowlitz, 15:00. I observed a big (7 – 8”) rock crab in shallows south of dock, while I was swimming.
Julie L: Cowlitz, 19:00. Last night it rained. Fog in morning, lovely hazy sunshine in evening. Jellies thick. Fish near Disney. We went Bull Kelp collecting closer to Disney – all the ends are frayed, and they have oval spore patches. About 20 or more Barn Swallows, Kingfisher near Disney, scattered gulls.
07.aug.22: Hallie A: 9:00 A flock of what appears to be 10 – 15 Pelagic Cormorants joining a multi-species feeding frenzy out in Presidents’ Channel. Other species in the group include large (Glaucous-winged) and small (Mew?) gulls, a few Bonaparte’s, Double-crested Cormorants, and small black diving birds that raft; six rafts of from 8 – 25+ each were out there. These looked more like some auklets than common murres to me.
Julie L: I’ve heard from several people that there used to be a kelp forest at the C’s points but no longer. I couldn’t remember any kelp there either but decided to kayak there to see. At 18:00 the tide was very high and the sun brilliant but low in the sky. Java surprised an otter. The otter craned her neck way out of the water to see, and rather than swim away, approached the dog, who was on the rocks. A smaller otter followed behind her. I yelled to the dog to leave that area, which she did. The otter kept surfacing near the rocks, always looking at the dog and radiating curiosity and fearlessness. Java swam around near the kayak, usually further than 15 feet from the otter, which seemed to be barely enough. I paddled straight out from the two rocks, but since it was high tide underwater seaweed wasn’t easy to identify. Straight out from the first point was sand, then a band of sea lettuce, seersucker kelp and iridea. Out deeper, the bottom was sandy with a few clam shells sprinkled around. Even deeper, just at the edge of visibility (maybe 15 or 20 feet?) was eelgrass. Out from the second point, the band of lettuce, kelp, and iridea appeared but no eelgrass. I quartered the area, looking for bull kelp, and ended up paddling to Hammond (where there were two Oystercatchers, a flock of crows, and a couple gulls as well as birds that only Tillie could name). The only kelp I saw were broken off pieces, presumably from Skipjack. There was sargassum near the clay point and at Hammond.
07.aug.24: Camilla L 8:20: On the way to Friday Harbor it was foggy and there was a fog rainbow ahead of the boat. We went through a pod of Harbor Porpoises and one dove right under the boat.
Julie L 13:00: On the way back, we saw a 14” salmon flipping entirely out of the water maybe ten times, in Presidents’ Channel about 1/4 mile off Disney. David stopped the boat but we didn’t see it again.
06.aug.25Tillie S at Cowlitz, 8:00 am Barn swallows dive-bombing crow. An osprey seen & heard in bay on several occasions a couple of weeks ago. Also an osprey has been frequenting the Drums’ pond regularly, predating goldfish there. Same bird? That one’s been around since first week of August, I think.
Lots of sea lettuce on North Beach this week, some harvested for gardens.
06.aug.27David L at Cowlitz: Mooring added – A – Wind South. Also, some swallows (half dozen?) and nest (young) sounds. Crows have occasionally taken over the dock.
Mornings/evenings continued small fish in small groups on surface almost certainly not salmon but in salmon areas (along Disney and out with current bulge). Stickleback?
In Deer Harbor evident probable single salmon travel with them at inside float depth.
Glen R: Cowlitz. Barry, David, Glen in two nets near dock caught hundreds of herring, some pinks, others, herring 2 – 4” . Let go before good identification made.
Julie and David L: Cowlitz, 20:10Tide high. Sea flat, pink sunset, swallows twittering. Fish feeding ripples on surface, both sides of dock. Some skitter on surface, others make petite ripple. One seal in the moorings, a regular this time of day. 15 boats on moorings. Kelp floaters, maybe five. Don’t see jellies or dragonflies.
David L, Cowlitz, Later: Zooplankton still thick, as observed looking at cavitation plate while changing oil. Plus, big “bugs” still. Salmon.
07.aug.29Julie L: Cowlitz, 15:00 Unpleasant glare on water, clear. A group of maybe 20 people gathered with Eric Beamer, Kurt Fresh, Russel Barsh, Madrona Murphy, to get beach seine tips, caught several chinooks, sculpins, and smelt.
Glen R: Cowlitz, 17:30Sunny, upper 70’s, clear, water tranquil. Excellent visibility. After the above group left, tide 2/3 of the way in. Approx. 150 salmon, 4 – 7” south o dock in 4 – 8’ of water, not feeding on surface, 1/2 way to bottom, numbers doubling every half hours last hour. Still Barn Swallows around dock, <10. No nest noises of fledgelings. <5 Crows, around 3 gulls in sight. Also 500 herring 5 – 7”.
07.aug.30: Julie L: 8:00 biking past Frances’ Cove, heard the sound of California Gulls (?). Termites are out.
Donna A: 16:00 At Point Hammond, seals slapping off the point in the rip, gulls flying towards Skipjack.
07.aug.31: Glen R: Cowlitz, 14:15. Light rain, 60º, water still. One cormorant near dock, fledgeling Barn Swallows calling from under dock. Some small fish activity at water surface South of dock. Too much glare to see. Tide fairly low.
David L 17:30 at Steep Point, just outside Deer Harbor, collected a dead Harbor Porpoise, which he sent to the Marine Mammal Stranding Network via Phil on Yellow Island. He wonders if the death is related to the renewed gillnetting in County waters.
Julie L 17:00 to 19:00 COASST walk to Hammond (via kayak). Rain in early afternoon, bright sun by evening. At C’s First Point, a pair of squabbling kingfishers, who were still at it on the return trip. Little schools of little fish, one school of maybe 100 5 inchers that could have been salmon. Neither otters nor seals. GBH at Point, along with five gulls. Not too many jellies anymore. While there is blooming yarrow on the Sandy Point Road, the yarrow along the beach towards Hammond and at the Point has faded.
Donna A: There’s a dead seal pup just below Skip’s.
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