Attack of the killer crabs

And no, I don't mean those type of crabs. I mean the type of that pinch.

This weekend, Jennifer decided to join me down on the Des Moines Beach for my first Beach Naturalist shift of the year. It was also the lowest tide of the year. And while there was the usual crowd of moon snails about, we we're seeing much else unusual until I saw what I thought was a detached red rock crab shell buried in the mud.

So we squatted down by the shell and carefully tried to extract it from the sand. The crab attached to the shell was not amused. It exploded out of the sand, pinchers drawn and Jennifer and I both almost fell backwards with the yelp.

As an aside, red rock crabs have powerful pinchers and are very aggressive in you get in their face. This guy def. felt we were in his face. And so did his buddies.

IN the red rock crab world, the boys like to hang the the boys and the gals with the gals, until mating season of course. And so when we disturbed this guy, all his buddies erupted out of the sand too. It was a bit like a 1950s horror movie. And Jennifer, who was wearing only flip flops, did little yelps as she tried to dodge miffed crabs who were making a run for the water.

So we provided entertainment for both my fellow naturalists and the crowd that gathered to see what all the shouting was about.

#twittermoms, #wildlife

Heron hunting

It was time to take my daughter's new camera out for a test spin, so we headed up to the Black River Heron Rookery in Renton to see if we could spot any of the majestic birds, and maybe get a closeup shot.

That was not to be. Their nests were behind a screen of trees (we could see them flying in and out with twigs or whatnot in their beaks), bit alas, not tests. And we couldn't figure out how to get on the other side of the slough we were looking at. So we had to settle for the in and out traffic, spotting a hummingbird nest, a huge mound of ants, lots of ducks and rabbits. And because she doesn't have a telephoto lens of yet, most of the shots were of dots in the sky.

Still, it was a great afternoon to wander and see what we could see. Perfect Sunday afternoon.

Whales! Whales!

I was screaming this in a high-pitched voice last night, as the family took a mini-vacation out to Ocean Shores - where I spent most of my summers growing up.

Jennifer ran out to see, but quickly turned on the teenage disdain for excitement (when the drama isn't about her) and said "mom, quit squealing". I wasn't squealing. Squeaking with excitement, maybe but not squealing.

But she did appreciate the huge agate I found on the beach, and when I pointed out an owl hunting, she liked that too.