Shhhsh... It's a Secret....

The shore off Point St George, where the Tolowa Indians once had a village

Today was my second visiting with Inez in Crescent City. Today's outing was a trip to the pier for some birding and to the beach for a sandy walk on wet sand.

Inez trotting down to the beach

The beach we chose for the walk, has islands off shore, where Aleutian Geese gather in the early spring, for geese type picnics and to make rude comments about those other birds - cormorants and murres, birds that never had a wildlife festival named after them. Where was I? Right! The beach walk was cooling and I always enjoy checking out the various types of seaweed & kelp, like this one below, that looks rather like a tropical palm.
 

I looked up the name of this kelp: Palm Tree Kelp. DUH! 

Tide Pools

I enjoyed searching through the driftwood for unusual water smoothed branches

On our way back up the slopes & away from the beach, I spotted a wildflower I figured it must be related to Owl Clover & Valley Tassels, but I had no name for it - happily Inez did, and identified my first ever Parentucellia. Way cool!

Yellow Parentucellia

After the beach, we visited the B Street Pier so I could get my annual fix of Black Oystercatchers, Whimbrel, and Black Turnstones, Common Loons to name a few of the inhabitants of house sized, barnacle coated rocks, just off shore. 

Lone Whimbrel

For a bonus bird, Inez spotted a Belted Kingfisher sat resting on a cement buttress, also just off shore.

Belted Kingfisher resting up a bit

What a fuzzy off shore rock, full of Black-bellied Plovers, Black Turnstones and Sanderlings.

Meeting of the Peeps Club

Here is the same island below; a short clip, showing the hyper-activity of peeps, likely on caffeine.


After our last shore side stop, we hit a local cafe for a way-late breakfast, then it was back to Inez's house. After a while I let Inez in my 'big secret'; today is my sixty-first birthday. Didn't plan this trip for my birthday, but happily the timing just worked out that way. Nicest birthday I've had in several years now, and it was great spending it with a good friend like Inez.