squid boats ~ 05/15/11 ~ at home

squid boats

I'm not sure why, but I've felt compelled to post pictures of the squid boats we see from home. Ha! They're much easier to photograph than whale spouts and tails. I believe the squid season starts around April 1. It's unusual to see this many boats out during the day. Typically, the boats go out late in the afternoon and have bright lights on all night long. It used to bother us for sleeping. Sometimes one or two will camp out on the water during the early part of the day where you see the boats above. I find it interesting that the fellas take Friday and Saturday nights off.

ps 10/25/13 - As an example of how bright those lights are, check out a satellite image of squid boats in the Atlantic Ocean off South America.

tree year project 2011, #7

coast Douglas-fir
Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii
Pinaceae

While I was down in the park obtaining clippings for the caterpillars I'm raising, I took a closer look at the Douglas-fir I'm featuring in the Tree Year Project. Lo and behold there's a metal tag nailed to the base of the trunk with the number "1444" engraved on it. I looked at our local Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History site and their herbarium is included in the Consortium of California Herbaria. I searched under "1444", "Yadon", and "Monterey County, Pseudotsuga." No luck in finding any records. I suspect, since this is a city park, past forestry personnel did some kind of cataloging. With budget cuts, small town politics, and a citizen committee instead of an official arborist, I'm atypically hesitant to inquire about this tree and its tag. I'm including the silhouette pic to show off the shape of this tree.

http://thetreeyear.wordpress.com/tree-year-posts/around-the-tree/human-marks/