Subject: [Tweeters] Down at the Pier
Date: Sun May 27 14:02:09 PDT 2018
From: Jeff Gibson - gibsondesign15 at gmail.com

I have found the ideal plankton watching partner - my dear old demented
mother.

Now, most people are bored to tears watching plankton and probably my mom
is too, yet she is able to amuse herself by all the sights down at the pier
and is easily distracted by people on the pier and particularly light
reflections. She could probably spend all day down there, thus allowing me
plenty of time down on the float to watch plankton. She does enjoy watching
fish.

My mothers most used phrase these days is, "gee, never seen anything like
that before!", which of course is because she cant remember anything in
present time longer than about 30 seconds.She's all over West Seattle in
the 30's and 40's though.

Anyhoo, plankton watching has been good for me this spring - an amazing
variety of creatures. There is an old concept (I think it was pointed out
by Shakespeare) of "Sea Change": the notion of a wholesale change of
conditions in any given place as the sea moves thru it. That certainly
applies to plankton, which are carried hither and yon by tides, current,
storms, etc. Here today and gone tomorrow.

Fish too. Every day different. One day near the end of April my sister and
brother-in-law were in town and we went down to the pier. The most abundant
fish down there were thousands of the aptly named Shiner Perch flashing
down in the eel-grass inside the pier. Suddenly a big Harbor Seal appeared
(having snuck through a gap in the pilings) and all those perch scattered
over the eel-grass instantly galvanized into a dense ball.

The seal was zooming around just below us humans watching from the pier so
we were treated to a great show. It was amazing to see the seal completely
surrounded by fish, most of which managed to keep about a foot away from
the seal as it zoomed about. Some but not all. The seal got it's fill and
left, but later (like an accipiter doing sporadic stealth attacks on a bird
feeder) we saw it from down the beach sneaking in for another shot at it
(insert the shark music from "Jaws" here).

Some of the coolest plankton floating by were Comb Jellies, which are not
the same as yer typical jelly. I think of them as "The Jello Electric":
unlike the pulsating movement of jellyfish they move by moving rows of
cillia around their bodies which (like a hummingbird's gorget) are
refractive and just need some exterior lighting to put on a stunning
lightshow of rippling color in all the colors of the rainbow plus a few
more.I noted about 4 species - the most ever for me.

Well I've got more ;purple martin, rock doves, and guillemots were the
birds at the pier that day with 8 Turkey Vultures (this was 4/26 Diann ), a
Peregrine soaring with the TV's overhead, and surprise ! a Golden Eagle
with a Raven its tail coming inshore from out over the sound.

Well my typing going to hell, so I'm done. One of the things I've acquired
since I last posted is Parkinson's Disease which sometimes interferes with
typing. So it goes.

Jeff Gibson
Port Townsend Wa
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