Loves me some nudibranch. Here, a thick-horned, a/k/a opalescent, nudibranch I found (and quickly returned to its rocky home) on Saturday. Those feathery cerata contain stinging cells, obtained from the nudibranch’s anemone prey.
“Opalescent nudibranchs are aggressive fighters. When two of them meet head-to-head, they're likely to lunge into a biting battle. If one meets the tail of another and gets the first bite, it usually wins the battle and consumes the loser.”—Monterey Bay Aquarium
We were examining a piece of “Turkish towel” kelp, about the size of a dish towel, that had washed up on the beach when a hidden treasure fell from it: a Monterey sea lemon nudibranch. Sometimes life gives you lemons! 🤓 This one was laying eggs—that ribbon contains a million or more tiny eggs: an actual egg noodle 😅
Sea lemons get their color from the sponges they eat. They are hermaphrodites and lay eggs throughout the year. My fingertips and the Rubbermaid logo for scale. Low tide almost always reveals something amazing.
How’s that saying go? April sojourns bring May features. Two reporting days, one at sea and one on land, in the traditional territory of the Samish Indian Nation should yield a memorable story for NPR of an endangered apex predator getting to stretch its legs, er, arms again in the San Juan Islands. Stay tuned!
Seeing orchids in the wild is a rare treat in the Northwest: if I see even one on a hike, it is memorable. So we were blown away to see easily 100 fairy-slipper orchids flowering in the woods of Anacortes’ Washington Park last weekend. On top of many rare wildflowers on the park’s grassy bluffs overlooking Rosario Strait.
Some Type 2 fun at work this week as KUOW Public Radio’s Megan Farmer and I bounced across Rosario Strait and spent about 6 hours in a small boat (during a Small Craft Advisory 😬) to report on an endangered species in the San Juan Islands. Happy to report that nobody puked! Yeehaw! 🤠
Seattle peeps: DYK the U.S. Forest Service has a research lab by the Fremont Bridge? Its days of studying wildland fires and smoke are numbered. Here, Kathleen Martin Lumiere stands atop a smoky Mount Dickerman last fall. My KUOW Public Radio story below.
I’m on Team Ochre Star: not just because I want them to bounce back from their wasting disease pandemic, but because I, too, hide from the sun when I’m at the beach. Sunday at Boeing Creek Beach.
Despite [everything], our tiny, life-covered rock hurtling through space is still pretty sweet. Low clouds rush between a Douglas-fir and the moon on a windy Wednesday night above our house.
THIS JUST IN: Compelled by gas-price spikes from President Trump’s impulsive war on Iran, Amtrak has opened its first high-speed rail line on the West Coast... [TOUCHES HIS EARPIECE; PAUSES TO LISTEN] I’m now being told this is actually time-lapse footage of Puget Sound from ordinary-speed rail, Amtrak’s Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago. We now return you to your regularly scheduled authoritarianism, oil-based transportation, record-shattering heatwaves, and attempts at empire building.
Shopping in Montana, you see goods for sale you rarely see elsewhere, or at least not in grocery stores. Our (Turo) rental car even had bear spray in the glove compartment.
![Despite [everything], our tiny, life-covered rock hurtling through space is still pretty sweet. Low clouds rush between a Douglas-fir and the moon on a windy Wednesday night above our house.](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6747436248384734661428_0_bb4f74cff94105944e4d001f20215ddb.jpg?o=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&h=2011d8ac4e91cd9f61a24cc16bc262d2)
![THIS JUST IN: Compelled by gas-price spikes from President Trump’s impulsive war on Iran, Amtrak has opened its first high-speed rail line on the West Coast... [TOUCHES HIS EARPIECE; PAUSES TO LISTEN] I’m now being told this is actually time-lapse footage of Puget Sound from ordinary-speed rail, Amtrak’s Empire Builder from Seattle to Chicago. We now return you to your regularly scheduled authoritarianism, oil-based transportation, record-shattering heatwaves, and attempts at empire building.](https://sp1.picnob.com/p/pt_6747515124541473314520_0_30a9c099203753f7862d704085099427.jpg?o=aHR0cHM6Ly9zY29udGVudC1sZ2EzLTMuY2RuaW5zdGFncmFtLmNvbS92L3QxNS41MjU2LTEwLzY1Mjc5NjkwOV8xMjM0ODc1ODcyMTgxODMwXzgxNjQzMTY0MzgzMDkyNjAyNTVfbi5qcGc/c3RwPWM0MjAuMC4xMDgwLjEwODBhX2RzdC1qcGdfZTM1X3M2NDB4NjQwX3NoMi4wOF90dDYmX25jX2h0PXNjb250ZW50LWxnYTMtMy5jZG5pbnN0YWdyYW0uY29tJl9uY19jYXQ9MTAyJl9uY19vYz1RNmNaMmdIbTc0SmNTU0szbjVsRDBCenVhRVBfRGN3OVFPd1gwUktTbjJqYmVNYUU5a0FFT25IWkxTQzlpWmVubjN0MDNkNmMwV0tBRlRTejJ4MzliTVZiRXZCMSZfbmNfb2hjPUYyVDhJYnNkdlF3UTdrTnZ3R2FpMzM3Jl9uY19naWQ9M2p4RWMwU2xtSjJBNmRUZjRrRDZldyZlZG09QVBVODlGQUFBQUFBJmNjYj03LTUmb2g9MDBfQWY2TzJ2b21KQ1JBRVhFc2RTeHVKTHlDVXVWM3ozZUJ2V01GOFduTFpOMDA2USZvZT02QTEwNENBMyZfbmNfc2lkPWJjMGMyYw==&h=15e3041d29c848d85d79f5edaede1092)
