Monday, August 29, 2011

The First Real Weekend of Summer

It was kite weather, and not. Inland just a little it remained sunny; on the beach, the marine layer drifted in, rarely so thick you couldn't see the blue behind the veil, or sunshine-over-there. There were enormous numbers of people on the beach: 78 people and 7 dogs on the clicker for the Ellen Creek Beach segment, though by that time the fog had slipped in. All over NW Washington, people must have looked at the forecast, declared this the first real summer weekend of a cold season (as well as perhaps the last one), and bolted for the Outer Coast.

August 27, 2011. Soundscape for C. Note the fogbank in the west.

This was a COASST survey day. No dead birds to report, unless I was just too spacey to notice. One notable bundle of feathers, but no measurable parts = it can't be identified and doesn't count. A bit of wrack. On one stretch the beach was substantially reshaped, though there have been of course no winter storms. A handful of pelicans flying past and a few cormorants in the air, down along the Rialto Jetty segment.

Rialto Jetty Beach Segment, August 27, 2011 (Click for larger image.)
The Other Aspect: Kite Weather (Click for larger image.)

Another henge-builder with an interesting mind had been at work in the drift.

Climbing Cairns (Click for larger image.)
No Measurable Parts (Click for larger image.)

As usual, stopped at the pullout over the river to get online, this time the excuse was to check on my North Carolina friends just then having a hurricane. There were about three dozen mergansers in the river, flitting back and forth from shore to shore like they were playing some kind of water-soccer. Two eagles, moving more lazily from one side of the river to the other.

I need to ask Tim McNulty about these signs. How is the Wild Olympics Campaign progressing, and why is the only evidence that it is happening at all these (completely delusional) anti- signs on the West End? Maps and whatnot on the Wild Olympics Campaign website.

... (Click for larger image.)

1 comment:

Kevin R. Tipple said...

Had no idea it was that cool up there. We have not been that cool since sometime back in late March or so.