Gone Tidepoolin'

At Arcadia Beach for a windless, sun and tide pool filled afternoon...
So much animal life!

Intertidal zone covered mostly by goose and acorn barnacles.

The Oregon cost has semi-diurnal tides 
(two high tides and two low tides each day)

Anemone, mussels, and sea star filled pool...

"....so just then, the sea cucumber looks over to the mollusk and says: with friends like these, who needs anemones." - Finding Nemo

Look Ma, no feet!

 Molts, Molts, everywhere...

Mass molting is happening all over beaches during this time of year
...So fresh and so clean, clean, crab for all; especially the birds

* New Link to check out on the "wood panel" top of page - 
our Pre-Blog Work Photos *

Bountiful Twilight

"The wise man can pick up a grain of sand and envision a whole universe. 

But the stupid man will just lie down on some seaweed 

and roll around until he's completely draped in it. 

Then he'll stand up and go, "Hey, I'm Vine Man."
- Jack Handey

One of our favorite photos taken thus far

A blustery, rainbow filled evening turned into a magnificent sunset

A not-so-shy beaver.  

Rabies? 

Well, let's just say he wasn't foaming at the mouth or gnawing on Ben's leg...

Northwestern Salamander

You might say this is not as picturesque as the Black Bear that Ben saw this week.

You might be right.

If only the bear was willing to lay motionless amongst the leaf liter for a close-up

We decided we could build a little "bubble box" around ourselves and sit through the blowing sand and rain and wait for moments just like this one....

Cut up chunks of fish, anyone?

Manaznita Coastline...
Nehalem Bay can be seen in the upper back portion of photo below the ridge line

Went and took a visit to Seaside for their aquarium and who could resist doing some crayon rubbings?

Pacific Harbor Seal Smile :)

The Seaside Aquarium was the first in the country to successfully breed Pacific Harbor Seals. Some of the seals are 3rd or 4th generation offspring

Wolf Eel! Can grow up to 6 -7 feet in length and weigh 40 pounds...this one was massive! Believe it or not; their temperament is quite mild,
but their face is one only a mother could love....
guess that makes us "mothers"

One neat aspect about the aquarium is that it features only animals found along the Pacific Coastline (Cali-Alaska). The Giant Pacific Octopus, for example, in the video above....

None of the seals have been trained. They have each acquired their own set of skills to attract the attention and fish of the visitors. This seal named Greta has her technique down pretty well....

Gazing

Lately...

100% Bona Fide

Sublime Evening

Hwy 101 (follows the Oregon Coast) View

Pacific Harbor Seals!
As soon as we get our State Park pass we won't have to sneak
around and zoom in quite so much to get shots of these guys

The view from one of our study areas overlooking the Columbia River into Washington

Sea Foam Outline

An Upmost Toast to the West Seacoast

Welcome to the coastline of Oregon! We're located in a town called Manzanita along the NW portion of Oregon about an hour from the Washington Border. It's a quaint and small tourist town (population 785) and has everything we need within a couple blocks; coffee shops, a pub, a library, a few restaurants and shops. Oh, and did I mention an ocean? The spring here will be windy and rainy, but the temperatures are mild and we can't wait to start exploring the area.We'll be going out in the field in a few days and learning the ropes of surveying for Spotted Owls.

A view from the beach showing Neahkahnie Mountain in the backround. (A view from the top to come soon!)

Carrie's first Pacific Ocean encounter. Cold and extra great white sharky.

Enjoying the tide.

Excited to start surveying next week... Until then, checking out the new landscape, picking up work trucks and gathering a few pieces of furniture for our place.

Oh the places we'll go....

The Adirondacks have treated us very well and we are on our way to the next adventure along the NW coast of Oregon. However, before we complete our 3,000 mile cross-country-venture to start surveying Spotted Owls, we thought we'd share some more pictures from this winter.....

Wintery Sunset. This was a winter full of snow for Ben and I, however as far as the Adirondacks go, it was a below average year for snowfall.

Using telemetry to triangulate the position of collared martens.

One of the collared martens so conveniently posed on a log after releasing him from a trap.

Elk Lake, a nearby study area with stunning views of the High Peaks.

Martens Martens Martens!

After the new year, snowmobiles were a daily necessity....of course, we had absolutely NO fun riding them around every day :)

Beautiful coat on a candid American Marten.

We made a trip into Boston to visit some friends and ended up making a few more at the Aquarium...

Hello.

A really neat display of jellies.... we spent hours gazing at them and taking pictures. A life size lava lamp.

Speaking of jelly.....in this video the marten is rewarded after time spent in the trap

“What is the feeling when you're driving away from people, and they recede on the plain till you see their specks dispersing? -it's the too huge world vaulting us, and it's good-bye. But we lean forward to the next crazy venture beneath the skies." - Jack Kerouac

See you in Oregon....