American crow picking through sea lettuceCorvus brachyrhynchos picking through Ulva sp.
It's posts like this that remind me why I truly like creating this blog. I've spent a very enjoyable morning searching online for crows and sea lettuce (an unusual combination)... and learning new things that I would have otherwise shrugged aside. If you're visiting Nature ID for the first time, make sure to click on the embedded links above in the common and scientific names.
I was surprised to discover there are at least 3 species of crows in North America, the others being the northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus) and the fish crow (Corvus ossifragus), and not to overlook the closely related common raven (Corvus corax) and Chihuahuan raven (Corvus cryptoleucus). Also, for recipes of sea lettuce, aka green laver, check out MBARI's site.
Oh! I guess I should mention this is the beach we usually do our nighttime grunion greeting in the summer. I've never seen the sea lettuce washed ashore like this, but autumn seems to be the time when the ocean sheds it summer growth, too. Interestingly enough, this was only a few beach miles away from Fort Ord Dunes State Park that we visited the same day.
ps 07/19/16 - From a recent news report, the green is Ulva lactuca.
I was surprised to discover there are at least 3 species of crows in North America, the others being the northwestern crow (Corvus caurinus) and the fish crow (Corvus ossifragus), and not to overlook the closely related common raven (Corvus corax) and Chihuahuan raven (Corvus cryptoleucus). Also, for recipes of sea lettuce, aka green laver, check out MBARI's site.
Oh! I guess I should mention this is the beach we usually do our nighttime grunion greeting in the summer. I've never seen the sea lettuce washed ashore like this, but autumn seems to be the time when the ocean sheds it summer growth, too. Interestingly enough, this was only a few beach miles away from Fort Ord Dunes State Park that we visited the same day.
ps 07/19/16 - From a recent news report, the green is Ulva lactuca.
4 comments:
Wow. That's a lot of Ulva! Jeepers. SO glad you enjoy researching and sharing all the cool stuff you found. I sure like reading it. =)
I second that! Didn't know the ocean sheds in the fall as well! :)
A beach in Autumn is a totally different beach than it's summer cousin..our river beach is like that too. And crows seem to like it too.
Thanks, bb.
twg, don't quote me on the ocean bit. It's just an observation I've made this autumn of all the algal wrack that's been washed ashore.
Susan, I'd be curious to see some pics of your river beaches through the seasons.
Post a Comment