EarthCorps/Hylebos has become a member of the Federal Way Chamber of Commerce, so a tableful of us attended our first CoC luncheon on Wednesday, June 6th. The food was good, the program was very interesting, and it was fun to meet so many new people.
On our way home, Adele Freeland mentioned the fact that the day before had been an extreme low tide event, so the tide should still be lower than usual on Wednesday as well; and, unlike Tuesday, the sun was actually shining, at least at that given moment. It seemed like a good day to cancel whatever plans we'd made for the afternoon and head to the beach instead. We only paused long enough to change into our beach shoes and grab our cameras and then we were off. A lot of people are unaware of the fact that Federal Way, WA actually has a beach, but in actuality, we have a very nice one at Dash Point State Park and, when we have a major low-tide event, a whole lot of beach is exposed. Of course, the entire beach disappears when the tide comes in, so timing is everything.
As Adele and I walked, she wondered out loud what she would write about if she decided to blog our day at the beach. She tickled my funny bone when she looked around the area where we were standing and said, "Dead thing, dead thing, dead thing..." Well, yeah, I have to agree that most of the things we find on the beach are indeed dead things, but that's not all that I see when I look around. My camera isn't capturing color with any accuracy whatsoever, so I really, truly, wish you could have been with us so that you could experience the depth and extraordinary beauty of the colors our eyes could see. These shells looked like lacquered wood, all shiny rich browns and golds. They were gorgeous!
Now, contrast that with the rich royal purples inside of these shells. That's pretty enough to take my breath away.
Seaweed comes in all different colors, sizes, and textures, such as brown and green.
Red....
and white.
We found bright orange and purple starfish. These particular starfish aren't all stiff and hard when you touch them, but actually feel kind of squishy.
This one is preparing for the in-coming tide by curling up into a ball. That will allow it to roll around and ride the surf when it comes in.
This sea anemone is all relaxed and collapsed, waiting for a nice, cool, drink of water. it's not dead, it's just resting and waiting.
The exhaust siphons of clams were sticking up through the sand, waiting to squirt cold jets of water up the pantslegs of unwary beach walkers.
There were plenty of crabs, both large and small.
Moon snail egg cases were scattered all over the beach...
along with an occasional snail.
Look at these gorgeous marine snail eggs. They're so pretty!
Basal plates of barnacles decorated a variety of things, looking like crystals or uncut diamonds.
Just about everything was covered with barnacles. Some small barnacles reminded me of alien bird beaks, all sharp and pointy.
Others looked like huge snaggly teeth.
We had loads of fun watching this crazy seagull trying to remove a stubborn clam from it's shell. It struggled with this project for quite a while, then flew off, carrying the shell with him, so I'm not entirely sure who won.
I was absolutely thrilled to finally capture a shot of a flying great blue heron, even if it is a little out of focus. I've been trying to get this shot for a decade, so I was tickled pink about it. Tell me this doesn't look like some kind of prehistoric bird that belongs in the time of the dinosaurs.
Sand dollars scattered the beach in a variety of conditions: scrubbed clean, like this one. Beautiful!
Or in huge clusters that aren't quite as clean and pretty and go crunch under your feet if you're not careful.
Look at how delicate and feathery this seaweed looks.
Bird footprints, dog footprints, and people footprints ran in every direction.
The water carved beautiful ridges in the sand.
This small piece was washed up wood was an amazingly deep, rich, red.
And, then there was the delicate orange leaf. Not a single orange tree or bush anywhere in sight, just one tiny, gently curled, leaf asleep in the sand.
A little farther away from the edge of the water, the ground was covered in purple forget-me-nots, white daisies, and yellow creeping buttercup. This little bee was so busy collecting pollen that he almost let me get close enough to touch him with my camera lens.
By this time, the sun was gone, the temperature had dropped considerably, and the sky was threatening to rain again, so it was time to return home after a day well-seized.
Whoops! I almost forgot the triceratops!
Teri I. Lenfest
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