Snooping around Point Wilson here in Port Townsend an hour ago, I sorta got rained out of my tide pool explorations, and the skies were too dark to provide much illumination. Plus, there was that feeling of electricity in the warm humid air- a good time to get out of the pool.
So I stopped in at the Marine Science Center briefly, and there at the end of the pier, spotted a strange guillemot. It was all dark, with no trace of white wing patches at all - even as it stretched it's wings out a few times. The only white it showed at all was a broken mottling under it's tail, and at the waterline below and behind it's wings. Other Guillemots in the general area were all normal summer plumaged. Maybe it was some quirk of molting? I don't know.
As I was watching the wierd guillemot, a Marbled Murrelet, in it's summer forest camouflage of brown, surfaced nearby. Alway's nice to see.
Going into the aquarium, I scoped out some plankton on the ol' dissecting scope and spotted a very young Comb Jelly in the plankton sample, for my best views of this kinda creature ever. The Comb Jelly, unlike the undulating jellyfish most of us are familiar with, moves (feebly) with the movement of hair-like cilia organized in rows around its body. Seen under magnification, the shimmering cilia was an entrancing sight. At least to me.
Jeff Gibsonin Port Townsend Wa.