There are several identifying characteristics but the eyes and ears are the primary giveaways. Mice have big eyes and big ears and a long tail. Voles sport smaller eyes and ears and a short tail. Shrews have even smaller eyes and ears, a short, naked tail and a pointed snout. In moles the eyes and ears almost too small to be seen but their most distinguishing feature is their powerful front limbs and claws built for digging.
The most beautiful of our shore crabs is the rainbow colored lined shore crab on the far left. Kelp crabs are part of a group called spider crabs due to their long limbs. Sometimes hard to see thanks to their drab green shell these guys often cover large areas of the sea bottom just off shore. Purple shore crabs are probably our most shoreline abundant species and are easily identified by their distinctive color. Unlike its little cousins the red rock crab on the right grows to a respectable dinner plate size – where it often ends up.
Anyone who has strolled along our Northwest sea shores and turned over a rock or chunk of driftwood cannot help but notice the abundance of crabs that inhabit our shore lines. Thousands and thousands of these little crustaceans make their living from our rolling tides as they scurry about eating everything from algae to dead animals. Of the sixty or so crab species that inhabit North America our Pacific Shores are home to about twenty different kinds, just about all of which can be seen from the shore or dockside. Crabs are identified by shape, color, and the number of spines behind the eyes.
As you can see from the pics above it was not hard to find fossils over there. Amonites and corals are everywhere but that enormous rock I’m kneeling in front of was the biggest thing I’ve ever found; some kind of plant life. But this thing stuck out of the ground just as you see it in the photo. Various types of coral fossils make up entire hillsides. It is amazing!
In all of my travels I have never encountered fossil beds as rich and abundant as those in Saudi Arabia. There is no need to dig or even search very hard; artifacts of ancient animals litter the ground. I have actually stumbled over remains of ancient coral. Entire hillsides and cliffs there are composed of fossils. The Riyadh Escarpment where I spent the bulk of my time is especially rich in pre-historic remains of sea life. I’ve seen thousands of acres of the desert floor covered with fossils; these ancient coral beds must have been an astounding site! The Arabian Peninsula was, obviously, at one time submerged beneath the sea. As the land mass broke away from the African continent it rose above the water. In the Riyadh area life fossils predominate, but elsewhere on the peninsula an array of fossils have been found that range from ancient mammals to early hominids. Go here for a lot more ofSaudi Fossils.
Spend a lot of time looking for and studying wildlife in the natural environment nature will eventually bless you with a sacred, unexpected moment. That is certainly the way I felt when I discovered this troop of Hamadryas Baboons (Papio hamadryas) outside of Riyadh. These guys live in the canyons and crevices of a line of cliffs that overlook a group of date farms. The troop is therefore not unfamiliar with humans and I was able to spend some quality time with them and snap photos. As long as I obeyed the rules of baboon etiquette and kept my distance our visit was very amicable.
The Beluga Whale on the left from the Point Defiance Zoo displays its charming smile and the enlarged melon considered to be responsible for the animals enhanced vocal abilities. On the right a mother and her calf cavort in the gray waters off the coast of Key Peninsula, Alaska in a place aptly named Beluga Point. These white whales begin life dark gray to bluish in color.
Sure, humpbacks and orcas get all the attention but when it comes to pure personable charm nobody beats the beluga whale. They are rare visitors to our Northwest shores but they have popped up from time to time. They have also been recorded swimming up larger rivers such as the St Lawrence Seaway and even as far south as Japan. Nicknamed the “sea canary” because of the range of sounds they make, belugas also possess the distinction of being able to bob their heads up and down. This endearing characteristic is due to the fact that unlike other cetaceans their neck vertebrae are not fused together. Belugas are toothed whales that feed on fish and crustaceans and belong to the same family of cetaceans as the narwhal, another very unique animal.
From left to right: A fine example of a bolete; note the solidity of the organism and the pores underneath; a member of the coral fungi; a jelly fungi called “Witch’s Butter;” a familiar agaric showing the characteristic gills underneath an umbrella shaped cap; a “shelf” fungus called polypore; the small yellow orange sprouts coming out of the tree are possible “teeth” fungi; and finally another example of a polypore shelf fungus.
By and large (very large) I’m an animal wildlife guy. Animals are my muse, passion, primary trigger, etc, etc, etc… But there is a particular non-animal form of wildlife that I find uniquely fascinating. I’m talking about those exotically beautiful fungi called mushrooms. If you’re one of those hard core mushroom folks you know what I’m talking about. Life the Northwest is a shroom lovers paradise, of course, and as the saying goes “even the most casual observer” will notice our overwhelming wealth of fungi. They cover our forest grounds, scale halfway up our trees, and sprout overnight in our lawns. Mushrooms display an enormous variety of shapes and sizes, plus a surprising rainbow of colors. Pictured above are some of the more familiar types in our area. Orson K. Miller’s great book, “Mushrooms of North America” lists 13 major groups and hundreds of different kinds. I highly recommend this as a reference to anyone interested in these unique organisms.
Contrasting views of a feather duster worm – what you normally see while looking over the edge of a dock or float, and the hidden part of the worm hiding in its shell. Special thanks and photo credits to my great good pals, Ken Sandstrom and Tony Tablazon for the “naked” pics of the worm. Tony tells me they make great fish bait, too.
A common sight attached to boat docks or reefs is an oddly beautiful animal commonly called a feather duster due to its obvious resemblance to that appliance. The creature is actually a worm, one of the 8,000 different species that make up the class of worms called Polychaeta. Polychaete worms come in a variety of rainbow like colors and are not always strictly anchored to a substrate; some are free moving. Some even have a head that looks more like a fanged centipede and grab prey like many predators. This particular one found along our Northwest Shores is Eudistyli vavancouveri. Normally all see are the feathery tops of the worm as it sticks out of its shell filtering detritus and plankton from the water. Put your finger near the creature and it pops back into the shell with amazing speed. Inside that shell, however, is a lean and muscular body that can get up to two feet long.
They have distinctly different, more vivid coloration than Bengal tigers. And by the way, the Point Defiance Zoo is easily one of the best I have ever seen – and I’ve seen a few.
