Next week I will be six months beyond a total replacement of my right knee. The rehab has been long and tough, and I’m nowhere near the end yet. I’ve been told by my surgeon to expect a 12- to 18-month recovery to get back to whatever my new normal will be. By that estimate…
General natural history
Spying on the hunter
This afternoon I was hanging some laundry to dry on the back deck, when something reddish caught my eye. I grabbed the binoculars, peered down into the bushes, and saw a pair of ears emerging from behind a bush. Soon a very handsome coyote came out to bask in the sun. Just in case it…
Collateral damage
My home town of Santa Cruz made national news the other day, 23 December 2024, when a series of massive swells caused part of the Municipal Wharf to collapse into the ocean. People in the restaurants and other businesses had to evacuate immediately, and three people were dropped into the water of Monterey Bay (they…
Appreciating the tinies
Earlier this week I collected a plankton sample and settled down for a day of microscopy. For a variety of reasons it was my first foray into actual biology for the month of June, and I just wanted to feel like a marine biologist for a while. As far as plankton samples go, there wasn’t…
An inadvertent voyeur
A week ago I was with a group of students at Moss Landing, where we spent a couple of hours watching birds on our way down to Fort Ord Natural Reserve for an overnight camping trip. The visit was well-timed: we arrived at low tide so there was a lot of mud flat exposed, meaning…
The odd couple
Today my co-teacher, Gabe, and I took our Ecology students up the coast a bit for the first field trip of the semester. We spent the morning at the bottom of Big Basin State Park, where we did a little walking and a lot of looking and talking. In 2.5 hours we traveled maybe a…
An ocean and a lagoon
Yesterday and last night California was hit by an atmospheric river bringing lots of rain and the flooding that comes along with it. Combined with a spring high tide, the storm surge gave us tremendous swells and surges along the shores of Monterey Bay. At this moment it isn’t raining and the sky is lifting,…
After the after the breach
Well, it certainly didn’t take long for the sand bar at Younger Lagoon to build up again. As described just three days ago, the lagoon burst through the sand bar and connected directly to the ocean. This was Friday 30 December 2022. Today, which is Monday 2 January 2023, I went to check on things…
After the breach
California is currently being slammed by another atmospheric river. A series of storms is blowing through, bringing lots of rain, which we always need. The National Weather Service has issued a flood warning and a high wind advisory here, lasting through tomorrow evening (New Year’s Eve). It is indeed blustery, and although the rainfall hasn’t…
A different perspective
Yesterday I had the great fortune to visit a new intertidal site. It can be accessed only by crossing private property. The property owner is my next-door neighbor, and he said I can visit any time. As I said, lucky me! The site is a little north of Pigeon Point, and at first glance the…