seaweeds ~ 09/01/12 ~ Asilomar Beach

delicate sea lace
Microcladia coulteri

posted 09/10/12 - As I was looking for barnacles the other day in a beachcomber's guide (Thanks, Jennifer!), I found a picture of a red algae that looked very much like this one. Finally, here's an easy ID... or so I thought. I took the name winged fronds, aka winged rib (Delesseria decipiens), from the book to obtain links for my blog post, but what I found online didn't look anything like what was pictured in the book. Bad photo or incorrect ID in the book, I can't say for sure. However, I discovered there are an almost identical form of Microcladia californica and a similar looking species Plocamium pacificum to what I have pictured here. It's difficult to know with certainty, because IDing a small piece of algae washed up on the beach is like trying to ID a plant solely on one dried leaf blown in from who knows where. Both Delesseria decipiens and Plocamium pacificum are saxicolous, meaning they grow on rocks, whereas Microcladia coulteri and M. californica are epiphytic on other algae.

giant kelp and Turkish towel

Macrocystis pyrifera or M. integrifolia and Chondracanthus corymbiferus or C. exasperatus

Geez, I only wanted to show the amazing different textures of these brown and red algal blades. I didn't realize there were different spp. found locally. Without seeing the entire seaweed, it's difficult to know for sure. Note the epiphytic Microcladia on the Turkish towel. As an aside, many brown marine algae are known as kelp. Seaweed is an informal term for marine green, brown, and red algae.

feather boa kelp

Egregia menziesii (now includes E. laevigata)

Finally, a seaweed that I absolutely know the ID. This post took me several mornings to research (click all the blue highlighted links), and I ended up feeling like I was banging my head against an intertidal rock. There's an incredible world of underwater life that very few people appreciate unless it happens to wash ashore in its dying and broken form. I'd love to take up scuba diving or go out on marine watching boats, but alas the hole in my eardrum keeps me from going underwater at any depth and I get terribly seasick. I probably should resign myself into simply saying, "Oooh, pretty seaweed."

plovers and western gull ~ 09/01/12 ~ Asilomar Beach

western snowy plover (aka Kentish plover)
Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus (aka Charadrius nivosus)

western snowy plover and semipalmated plover
Charadrius alexandrinus nivosus and Charadrius semipalmatus

western gull and semipalmated plover
Larus occidentalis and Charadrius semipalmatus

Bird IDs do not come easy to me, especially small shorebirds and songbirds. They simply do not have the courtesy to hold still while I try to get a good look. It doesn't help that I'm only armed with an 8-year-old point-and-shoot with a max 4.3 digital zoom. Binoculars and field guides are usually left in the car or at home. Then, the most challenging aspect is birds change their looks more often than Lady Gaga, depending on their age or time of year.

When I took these pictures I had no idea the first was a snowy plover, since the only time I recognized one it had its nesting outfit on with dark patches on its crown, behind the eye, and above the shoulder. I was surprised to see in my enlarged pictures the one I captured had pink, sky blue, lime, and golden yellow bangles - quite the fashion statement! That was my first clue it might be a snowy plover, because I know they're closely monitored due to their federal status as being threatened.

I'm almost ashamed to admit, but I assumed the second small bird was a killdeer (Charadrius vociferus). As I was looking at Cornell's All About Birds site for snowy plovers, I noticed under similar species that killdeers have "two distinct chest bands." Erg. Semipalmated plover was not even on my radar since most pictures online only show its breeding plumage. Wilson's plover (Charadrius wilsonia) markings looked similar, but the bill was too big and it's found nowhere near here. I thus began my search of the various kinds of plovers. There are a heck of a lot of plovers out there in the world.

Finally, for the gull, I now know to first look at its leg color. Pink legs narrow down the possibilities for which kinds of gulls are found here in Monterey this time of year. Add in the dark grey of this juvenile, and I can only make a best guess.

Heavy sigh. I pulled out all of my bird books and looked at all of the bird links on my online ID resources page. I ended up getting sidetracked looking at other birds. I'd really like to find a comprehensive bird site that clearly shows the various plumage and coloring like some of my bird books. It's a process that's sometimes frustrating and other times enjoyable.

gooseneck barnacle ~ 09/01/12 ~ Asilomar Beach

gooseneck barnacle

Lepas sp.

I'm hoping some of my blog readers may be able to direct me to decent links about these 5-plated flattened barnacles I found attached to the holdfast of a bull kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana). My best guesses would be first Lepas pacifica and second possibly Lepas anatifera. However, my main issue with these IDs is the plates are not primarily white. Does the color change as the barnacle ages? Also, there are other Lepas spp. that are not readily found pictured online. It was amazing to watch these open up to show their feathery appendages and wave around on their translucent stalks (not to be confused with the caramel-colored haptera of the kelp). Click on the pictures to see them up close.

habitat ~ 08/25/12 ~ San Luis Reservoir State Rec Area

San Luis Reservoir State Recreation Area

August 25, 2012

Yellow, yellow... green? It felt like I had abruptly left black and white Kansas and ended up in Technicolor Munchkinland (see previous post). Instead of a yellow brick road, I had to pass through yellow grassy slopes. The first photo above is a decent comparison shot to the one I posted for November 24, 2011 when those shrubs in the foreground were submerged in water. I don't know if the level of the reservoir water is unusually low this summer given the lack of rain we had last winter.

It's funny, whenever I go through dry grassy CA hills, I see shapes of dinosaurs. This is based on a whole string of myths and erroneous connections from my childhood mind's eye. In the 1970's, I watched episodes of Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom that incorrectly described how elephants traveled to graveyards to die and showed birds on hippos. I didn't make the distinction between large, leathery skinned mammals and dinosaurs. Then, thanks to Sinclair Oil's logo, I figured fossil fuels came from Brontosaurus (properly classified as Apatosaurus). I at least knew dinosaurs were extinct. So, during summer vacations to the coast as we passed through the Kettleman Hills, I came to the conclusion that numerous massive dinosaurs must have congregated there for their final die-off, were loosely covered with drifting dirt through thousands of years, formed the sloping hills with dried grassy blankets, turned into oil underneath, and now had pumpjacks like a flock of monstrous drinking birds on their backs. Ah, the wild imagination of children.

Speaking of the 1970's, I remember studying handout supplements in grade school for renewable energy as a result of the energy crisis. Over 30 years have passed since then, and our progress away from reliance on fossil fuels seems to be slow. Sure, there are two forms of green energy shown in the first picture of the San Luis Reservoir area, hydropower and wind power, but is that enough?