{"id":15694,"date":"2013-03-21T21:04:31","date_gmt":"2013-03-21T21:04:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewildbeat.com\/?p=15694"},"modified":"2022-04-18T20:59:17","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T20:59:17","slug":"low-tide-discoveries-at-discovery-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/?p=15694","title":{"rendered":"Low Tide Discoveries at Discovery Park"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Images and video shot with my Olympus OM-D, E-M5 (micro four thirds) + Lumix 100-300mm lens.<\/i><\/p>\n

The bluffs above South Beach at Seattle’s Discovery Park are layered records of glacial history. There’s Vashon Till (mixed rocks, sand and silt), Esperance Sand, Lawton Clay (a blue-grey clay and silt) and Kitsap Formation sediments.<\/p>\n

\"Discovery

Discovery Park Trail + Bluffs – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

The beach itself sloughed away from the cliffs, and is now a plateau of sand, cobbles, boulders and erratics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"West

West Point Lighthouse – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

When low tide approaches zero, as it did for two days earlier this month …<\/p>\n

\"Zero

Zero Tide – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

… the water’s edge reveals the eel grass that draws in Brant Geese for shoreline foraging.<\/p>\n

\"Brant

Brant Geese at South Beach – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

We first saw Puget Sound Brants scarfing eel grass<\/a> last year, while sitting alone at Vashon Island’s eastern shore. The geese swam toward us, within yards, barely noticing my shutter click.<\/p>\n

This year, on the much busier South Beach with dog walkers and beach combers, the Brants give us humans wide berth … and decline to turn their photogenic faces to the light.<\/p>\n

\"Brant

Brant Pair – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

We pass the remnants of a Harbor seal pup protection area … broken marine-mammal tape and signs pointing to a now-vacant haul-out zone. In a few months, a new crop of pups will be back on the beaches, with Seal Sitters<\/a> and wildlife appreciators looking out for the young ones’ privacy and safety as they warm up and rest in these mixed-use environments.<\/p>\n

\"Seal

Seal Pup Protection Area – \u00a9ingrdtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Tape<\/a>

Tape – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

Just past the sign, a flock of winter Scaup flushes across Puget Sound with a Red-breasted Merganser flying solo above his Scaup mates.<\/p>\n

\"Scaup<\/a>

Discovery Scaup + Merganser – click for larger image – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

The Brant Geese fly back and forth between foraging beaches, dotting the pastel blues with their blacks and whites.<\/p>\n

\"Discovery<\/a>

Boat + Brants – click for larger image – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

In the changeable light of the afternoon, Puget Sound morphs from golds to blues to pinks to blues again.<\/p>\n

\"Brant

Brants at Sunset – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

We see the telltale geysers of tidal life … the subterranean organisms proving their viability and vitality.<\/p>\n

\"Low

Low Tide Life – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

And the nearby American Crows (or Northwestern Crows<\/a>), watching, listening for those very signs, so they can root out those burrows with their beaks.<\/p>\n

\"American<\/a>

Discovery Park Crow – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Crow

Crow Foraging – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

Way offshore, we hear the bark and cough of a California sea lion surfacing, then realize it’s two sea lions, swimming in tandem.<\/p>\n

\"Sea

Sea Lion Duo – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

The sun drops and the tide dips –receding from a 1.3 on its way down to zero.<\/p>\n

\"Low

Low Tide Rocks – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

South Beach then stages the scene that is my last photo for the night — West Point Lighthouse reflected in one massive tide pool.<\/p>\n

\"West

Lighthouse Reflected – \u00a9ingridtaylar<\/p><\/div>\n

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[fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”no” equal_height_columns=”no” menu_anchor=”” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” class=”” id=”” background_color=”” background_image=”” background_position=”center center” background_repeat=”no-repeat” fade=”no” background_parallax=”none” parallax_speed=”0.3″ video_mp4=”” video_webm=”” video_ogv=”” video_url=”” video_aspect_ratio=”16:9″ video_loop=”yes” video_mute=”yes” overlay_color=”” video_preview_image=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” padding_top=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” padding_right=”” type=”legacy”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ layout=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” border_position=”all” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding_top=”” padding_right=”” padding_bottom=”” padding_left=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”small-visibility,medium-visibility,large-visibility” center_content=”no” last=”true” min_height=”” hover_type=”none” link=”” border_sizes_top=”” border_sizes_bottom=”” border_sizes_left=”” border_sizes_right=”” first=”true”][fusion_text] Images and video shot with my Olympus OM-D, E-M5 (micro four […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1060,13],"tags":[85,221],"class_list":["post-15694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wildbeat","category-birds","tag-geese","tag-tides"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21808"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ingridtaylar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}