Images and video shot with my Olympus OM-D, E-M5 (micro four thirds) + Lumix 100-300mm lens.

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.

Discovery Park South Beach Trail

Discovery Park Trail + Bluffs – ©ingridtaylar

The beach itself sloughed away from the cliffs, and is now a plateau of sand, cobbles, boulders and erratics.

West Point Lighthouse and container ship at Discovery Park Seattle

West Point Lighthouse – ©ingridtaylar

When low tide approaches zero, as it did for two days earlier this month …

Zero tide at Discovery Park South Beach

Zero Tide – ©ingridtaylar

… the water’s edge reveals the eel grass that draws in Brant Geese for shoreline foraging.

Brant Geese at Discovery Park Seattle

Brant Geese at South Beach – ©ingridtaylar

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

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.

Brant Geese at Discovery Park

Brant Pair – ©ingridtaylar

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 and wildlife appreciators looking out for the young ones’ privacy and safety as they warm up and rest in these mixed-use environments.

Seal Pup Protection Area - ©ingrdtaylar

Seal Pup Protection Area – ©ingrdtaylar

Tape - ©ingridtaylar

Tape – ©ingridtaylar

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

Scaup at Discovery Park Seattle

Discovery Scaup + Merganser – click for larger image – ©ingridtaylar

The Brant Geese fly back and forth between foraging beaches, dotting the pastel blues with their blacks and whites.

Discovery Park Brant Geese and Boat

Boat + Brants – click for larger image – ©ingridtaylar

In the changeable light of the afternoon, Puget Sound morphs from golds to blues to pinks to blues again.

Brant Geese at Discovery Park Sunset

Brants at Sunset – ©ingridtaylar

We see the telltale geysers of tidal life … the subterranean organisms proving their viability and vitality.

Low Tide Life - ©ingridtaylar

Low Tide Life – ©ingridtaylar

And the nearby American Crows (or Northwestern Crows), watching, listening for those very signs, so they can root out those burrows with their beaks.

American Crow on Discovery Park Beach

Discovery Park Crow – ©ingridtaylar

Crow Foraging - ©ingridtaylar

Crow Foraging – ©ingridtaylar

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

Sea Lions swimming at Discovery Park Seattle

Sea Lion Duo – ©ingridtaylar

The sun drops and the tide dips –receding from a 1.3 on its way down to zero.

Low Tide Pool at Discovery Park

Low Tide Rocks – ©ingridtaylar

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

West Point Lighthouse and reflection at Discovery Park Seattle

Lighthouse Reflected – ©ingridtaylar