Full Moon on the Creek

Low tide at stonewall

Bob took some shots of me walking along the Stonewall reef with my flashlight. The minus 2.1 tide was at around 12:30 am so it was rather hard to see. The light in the top left corner is a boat heading into False Pass.
Because it was so dark, it was hard to get pictures that could show just how far the reef was exposed. There is another extremely low tide in April that will be during daylight hours.







As we approached Stonewall in the light of the full moon (this yellow light is from the boat), we flushed eleven bald eagles from near the top. The thoughts that flashed in our minds were: "Bats - big bats! wait - no bats live here." They were calling out and flying around in all directions. We'd noticed a population rise of eagles over the last few days and thought perhaps it had something to do with the low tides. A few weeks later and they are still here. So we think that it's more likely they are gathered for mating displays and to establish territories. They have been very active, flying in pairs and small groups, attacking individuals in exciting aerial displays. Yesterday I watched one fly backward, head and body angled down as in a dive, up and over a cliff, and moments later could hear the knock of talons locking from a pair of birds over the pass. It sounded like the horn-tangling of big game.










With lights we were able to find a good variety of little creatures-anemones, chitons (leather and lined), purple-ochre sea stars, a sunflower star, calcarious tube worms and spiny urchins. Not to mention thousands of mussels, barnacles, encrusting sponges and seaweeds (rockweed and ribbon kelp).



As the boat was passing by.

A Moonbow?

Walking down to the beach last night to turn off the freezer, I noticed, through the mist, darkness, and lashing wind a faint light angling upward from the shore on the opposite side of the strait. Was it a reflection? The only light was the rising moon behind me, still blocked from my view by clouds. The only other source of light I could imagine might be from far up the valley behind False Pass, and this light would have to be situated further to the right for it to be coming from there. Imagining that it might be coming from the moon, I either saw or willed the sight of colors. The picture shows the colors better since it was a 13 sec shot. Anyway, this is a "moonbow." Not often seen but basically the same thing as a rainbow. Last night we had sustained winds of 50mph, almost all night long.