Cape Scott: Summer 2014

As you all know, I was very busy in Indiana doing an internship last summer. However, I did fit in some interesting activities around back home.

 

 The above photograph is a chiton. They are a kind of mollusk all their own. At first glance, it looks like a cross between a slug and crocodile. Watch for future posts on the intertidal zone in the next couple months.
The black-and-white of me standing under the sedimentary rocks and the fossils under one arm was taken at a logging road-side fossil site.

 

 

 

The gnarled roots and trunk of this cedar growing from the base of a fir is characteristic of the west coast. After looking through these pictures, I can't help but think, Vancouver Island is a paradise. Cool winters, cool summers, and scenery more jaw-dropping than anywhere else in North America. I'm biased of course. The young robin in my hands below, in case you were wondering, was standing in the middle of the road. I think he might have been hit by a car but, besides seeming a little week, he seemed fine. I released off the road. His parents were near by.
Speaking of birds, I'm at 148 for my life list right now, but haven't really been trying as of late.
Far above I have a couple photographs of an interesting hand-like branch. It's actually the result of a parasitic plant called dwarf mistletoe. It grows inside the tissues of the evergreen and can get so large at times that the limb can break right off.