Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Low Tide at Seahurst Beach



Click on this mosaic of pictures for a more interesting view:


Low Tide at Seahurst Beach
Originally uploaded by mtnester.

I worked for two last hours in my classroom early this morning, then we hit the beach. Today there was a minus 4 low tide which is to be the lowest tide of the summer. The Sun Ray sea star had 21 arms. The little white dot you see on the sea star pulls water into its many tube feet allowing it to move and grasp prey; just a tidbit we learned from a beach naturalist today. In the picture where I am pointing to the tube worm, if you look closely you can see eggs of some sort on the side of the tube. I had no idea the eggs were there until I uploaded the photos! I just had my finger in the photo to give it some perspective. See the big clam that Chris is holding? We retrieved it from where a seagull had dropped it on the beach. He was none too pleased that we had HIS clam. When we put it back down, the bird clumsily picked it up into his beak and flew about 20 feet, dropped the clam onto a rock and there was his lunch; fresh seafood! We picnicked on the beach too; sandwiches for us. What a wonderful way to spend the first hours of freedom from the classroom!



And the prize for the most amusing find at today's low tide goes to the 'Beach Ball'!

3 comments:

Barbara said...

I love this post.
I love the beach and the mystery of the ocean.
What a fun way to spend the "freeeeeedom" of the first days after school is out. Enjoy your summer.
Fondly, B.

Lisa said...

Is that a baseball? The photos are awesome, I can't believe you can see all of that wonderful sealife so close to where you live. Very interesting!! Thanks for sharing...Lisa
P.s. I know what you'll say, come on out here:) My friend Ann said she would LOVE to come with!

Mrs4444 said...

That is SO cool! (the softball) Cracked me up! Off to look at the rest...