Clik here to view.
Beachcombing theoutershores: a 2016 retrospective
This marks the end of my fourth year on theoutershores. Including this retrospective, I made 35 posts and uploaded my share of Oregon coast images. I updated all theoutershores’ pages too. I’m starting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A View of the 2016 Wrack Line Through My Eyes
Whenever I’m down in the swash or threading my way through backshore driftwood, or anywhere in between, I’m searching for things the currents, winds, tides, and surf deposit on the beach. This year the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Dunegrass Finds Breathing Room on the Backshore
Dunegrass, caught between the inhospitable sea on one side and a sea of beachgrass on the other, finds breathing room on the backshore. That’s the way it feels. A perennial grass, living in the space...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Drift Logs Add Feature to Beach Ambience
There’s nothing I love more than coming across a newly beached drift log on a deserted strand. I wonder if humans need a bit of feature to make things right. Ambience
View ArticleClik here to view.
Bull Kelp, Graceful in the Drift Line
In life, bull kelp is the picture of grace. Its scientific name, Nereocystis luetkeana, is graceful too. What about after bull kelp’s short life ends, does it retain its grace? Every fall, storms...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Washed Ashore Project Repurposes Marine Debris for Art and Education
The Washed Ashore Project turns marine debris into art and awareness to save the sea. Henry the Fish, Washed Ashore’s flagship sculpture | May, 2016, Bandon, OR Washed Ashore enlists volunteers to...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Blue Buoy’s Solitude
Started out as a blue buoy, now it’s just a fragment. Dashed in the surf and scrubbed in the swash, swirling sand has worn its once jagged edges smooth. Its surface now scoured clean of the encrusting...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Brant’s Shadow
In Oregon, we think about flocks of Brant wintering on the estuaries, especially those that support rich eelgrass beds, but there are always a few brant summering singly or in small groups on the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Perched Atop Pollicipes, Lottia digitalis is a Work of Camouflage
In the image below, barnacles cloak a vertical wall rising above a sand filled tide pool. You’ll encounter scenes like this on exposed coastlines around the world, wherever there is a rocky intertidal....
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anthopleura elegantissima Lives Up to All Its Common Names
Aggregating anemones, Anthopleura elegantissima, don’t mind a little crowding. They seem to need it. You’ll find them packed column-to-column. They cloak tide pool rocks so densely you might be fooled...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Security for Granular Claw Crabs
Security for granular claw crabs, Oedignathus inermis, is an abandoned barnacle shell. They have to locate protection because their soft-shelled abdomens are vulnerable and nutritious. The specific...
View ArticleClik here to view.
In Shared Care
The land-sea interface speaks powerfully of Earth. In the shared care of continents and the great deep, the shore repays its portion. Earth
View ArticleClik here to view.
Tug of the Tides
After the dark of winter, spring promises longer days and daylight low tides. My home beaches offer morning minus tides in April, May, June and July. Notable events, these tides surrender rarely seen...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Keep an Eye on Active Drift Logs
In timber country, any sandy beach with a backshore collects drift logs. Fallen forest trees end up in the rivers, down which they wash to sea. And there are other paths to the shore. Swaths of seaside...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Root Wad Reflection
Stranded in the swash, this formidable root wad left its reflection in a fleeting mirror, the shiny surface between surf and dry sand. Judging by the lack of encrusting pelagic goose barnacles, Lepas...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Glimpse of the Anemones Below
Amid the pulse of waves, swells, and tides, moments spent peering through still water are few. Each second is precious. The wondrous life we scrutinize in the crystal depths is bound to vanish under...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Flickr Picked My Photo for Its World Oceans Day 2017 Gallery!
Flickr just told me they picked my photo for their World Oceans Day 2017 Gallery! These limpets have a good grip; with luck their mussel host will stay connected This photo previously appeared in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Anthopleura on the Rocks: A Collage of Competing Clones
There are places where Anthopleura elegantissima covers the intertidal rocks. It’s not an overstatement. You might mistake this dense colony of A. elegantissima for a solid rock surface But the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A Tide Pool with a View
Most tide pools direct your eye to the vibrant diversity and drama within. I’m a case study, laying on my belly peering into the depths. But I’ve come across a pool with a focal point outside and...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Red Algae Textures the Mid- and Lower Intertidal
The lower rocky intertidal is all about reds. There, and even higher, they texture rocks and reefs. But on unprotected shores these places are usually soaked by surf. So if you want to go nose to...
View Article