Uninvited deck hands

They invited themselves on board, took over and don't look like they have any intention of leaving. They look so at home, at ease, perfectly comfortable with their makeshift roosts.

changes

It seems this site just isn't getting visited except by a few individuals, so rather than posting more content here, I'll be only adding content to my Sierra Nevada Ramblings site, including copying items from here to there, spread out over a number of months. For those of you who have visited here and there, I apologize for the doubled up posts. So, no new posts will be made here, and I'll just add a lot of coastal items to my more popular site.

You are more than welcome to make additional (or repeat) comments as the posts show up at SNR. Thanks for coming here.

Russian River meets Sea

Following the Russian River as it meanders through redwood shrouded hills on its final approach to the Pacific Ocean, one is rewarded with a beautiful view where river meets sea. A gigantic sand spit stretches far across the river's mouth, with just a small area open allowing the river to flow out into the salty water.

Some years part of the sand spit washes away, and other times it builds up taller and wider. The far end of the spit is anchored to the cliff and a road extends down the hill onto the edge of the sand where a day use parking area lies. It is a long walk out the spit to where the river flows through, and marine mammals like to use that spit to haul out on and raise their young.

The watershed of the Russian River receives a huge amount of rainfall each winter, and at times the river rises to a height that floods small towns, with the river 25 feet deeper and filling the lower stories of houses and stores with muddy, deep water. The area once was just a resort community, with many houses built on stilts and residences only used during the summer months. For decades now, people reside year-round in this flood zone, and many buildings routinely receive water that fills them up.

Sand Dollars

Have you ever found a sand dollar lying upon a sandy beach? These round, flattish disks that appear to be made of sand are the leftover "tests" of a marine animal similar to a sea urchin, and they live beneath the waters where the sea bed is nice and sandy.

When alive, they are covered with dense, purple, very short spines and they stand on edge in the sand, moving around, finding food. When seas are rough, they lay down on the sand, and when predators such as sea stars come around, they dig themselves into the sand and hide. The live up up to 10 years.

Most sand dollars wash up onto the beach as white, spineless disks, but occasionally a purple one, still covered with hairlike spines, appears. The ones that aren't totally bleached out may even be green on the inside.

Here in California, finding sand dollars is easy in areas where sandy beaches extend for miles, as all that sand provides a perfect habitat, extending out beneath the waters. Visiting a beach as the tide recedes means you might be first to find what the tide left behind.

Hungry pelicans

There are two species of pelicans in North America, and one of those is the Brown Pelican, Pelecanus occidentalis, an endangered species that was almost obliterated by pollution from a pesticide plant that was dumping directly into the Pacific ocean in southern California, back in the 1970s. Apparently, huge amounts of DDT was dumped directly into the sea where it entered the food chain and by the time pelicans ate their dinner, the amount of DDT was so great, that with additional meals, the pelicans were so affected, they no longer could raise chicks, as the chicks never even made it out of the egg, the shells were so thin.

Fortunately, that pollution ceased, DDT was banned, and the brown pelicans slowly recovered. They are, however, still on the endangered species list.

A visit to the coast of California brings the site of lots of pelicans nowadays. They are large ponderous birds, sitting about 2 1/2 feet tall, with massive bills and a uniqueness about them that is very different from other birds, due in part to their size, but mainly their posture, and the way they hold their heads and that massive, pouched bill.

They are coastal birds, they live right along the shore, flying out to sea a few miles in search of fish to eat. They catch fish by diving into the water and grabbing the fish in their bills, with the weight of their huge bodies knocking the fish. They then tip their head and bill to the side, allowing water to drain out, then tip back their head and swallow the fish whole.

While visiting a wharf on a bay, a fishing boat came in and as the fish were being cleaned, pelicans and sea gulls swarmed the dock, looking for handouts. Dozens of pelicans and hundreds of sea gulls seemed to be living on the rooftops of buildings and decks of boats all over that small harbor. A few were busy fighting over the entrails tossed into the water as fish were cleaned. In the last image, the pelican has such a handout in its bill.