May 12, 2023
Early afternoon, sunny, slight breeze
After our visit to Palomarin, I wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were at Point Reyes, but instead of walking some of the trails, I had a tip from one of the grad students that a Gray Whale had beached or washed up onshore. This was an opportunity to see something unusual (and definitely related to the field of Vertebrate Biology), so, we made the short drive down to Agate Beach to have a look at the remains of this whale.
When we stepped out onto the beach, one of the first things I noticed were what looked like tiny Portuguese Man-o-War strewn across the rocky shore. A gorgeous shade of blue, I discovered back at home that these are small Hydrozoans called By-the-wind Sailor that occasionally wash up on shores in huge numbers. It appears that we are in the middle of one of those events now, because there were thousands washed up on just Agate Beach alone.
Looking around for the whale, I saw a few people at the far north end of the beach, so I began the 20 minute hike in that direction. This is one of four whales that are known to have died in the Bay Area already this year, and the second this month, as part of what NOAA has declared an “Unusual Mortality Event.” The whale on Agate Beach was a 37-foot male, in apparently good health with no obvious injuries, according to the necropsy that was performed by the Marine Mammal Center. These whales aren’t currently listed as endangered, but evidence suggests that 1 out of 4 Gray Whales has died since they were last censused, in 2016.
Before I had approached close enough to have a good view, I was hit by the nearly overpowering smell of decomposition on the breeze. I rounded an outcropping of the cliffs that edged the strip of beach to see the whale’s enormous head facing toward me. At first, I thought the whale wasn’t all that large, until I walked around for a lateral view, and saw the entire length of the animal stretched out along the beach, some of it’s enormous vertebrae exposed to the air. After I’d began walking back to the parking area, it hit me just what a sad end this had been for such a magnificent creature, and I couldn’t help but wonder what his last moments were like. Was this a “natural” death, or something caused by the impact humans have had on our oceans? (Almost certainly the latter; I don’t think there are many parts of the ocean that aren’t impacted by humans).
As I walked back down the beach, I peeked into some of the rocky pools that were exposed by the low tide. Gorgeous Splendid Iridescent Seaweed shimmered deep blue, and Aggregating Anemone sat amongst abundant Black Tegula and a few of the wonderfully-named Angular Unicorn. In a deeper pool, I spotted a Striped Shore Crab that had come out into the open, before noticing my presence and retreating back underneath a rock. I was also pleased to see a small fish in this same pool, that I guessed was a Sculpin. Fortunately, my photos – along with a short video – were good enough to identify this as a Mosshead Sculpin. Extremely cute!
As I took my time climbing the steps back up to the parking area, I had one more lovely sighting – a beautiful, bright California Scrub-jay trying to open up some sort of prey (maybe an acorn?) on a branch right beside the path. I wasn’t quick enough to get a good photo, but I had an amazing, close-up view of this lovely bird.
I had considered driving to Chimney Rock to see the Elephant Seals, but the hike out to the whale was longer than I’d expected, so we headed back to campus. But this trip to the beach was well worth the effort, bringing some very unique, even once-in-a-lifetime, sightings.
Species List
American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos), Song Sparrow (Melospiza melodia), Chain Bladder Kelp (Stephanocystis osmundacea), By-the-wind Sailor (Velella velella), Black Tegula (Tegula funebralis), Angular Unicorn (Acanthinucella spirata), Rockweed (Fucus distichus), Little Rockweed (Pelvetiopsis limitata), Turkey Vulture (Cathartes aura), Grey Whale (Eschrichtius robustus), Western Gull (Larus occidentalis), Splendid Iridescent Seaweed (Mazzaella splendens), Mossy Chiton (Mopalia muscosa), Striped Shore Crab (Pachygrapsus crassipes), Mosshead Sculpin (Clinocottus globiceps), Owl Limpet (Lottia gigantea), Aggregating Anemone (Anthopleura elegantissima), Grape Tongue (Cryptopleura ruprechtiana), Succulent Seaweed (Sarcodiotheca gaudichaudii), Sea Laurel (Osmundea spectabilis), California Scrub-Jay (Aphelocoma californica), Columbian Black-tailed Deer (Odocoileus hemionus columbianus), Canada Goose (Branta canadensis moffitti), Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus mailliardorum), Snowy Egret (Egretta thula brewsteri), Common Cowparsnip (Heracleum maximum), Shield Ferns (Polystichum sp.), American Vetch (Vicia americana), Pride of Madeira (Echium candicans), Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare)
Let me know what you think!