14 Oct · Tidepool Watch · Cove Three · Low 05:12
Periwinkles returning on the north ledge. new
After two years of sparse counts on the north-facing ledge, today's survey logged 62 common periwinkles in the Bream Frame — a number we last saw in 2021. Water temperature at pool three was 11.4°C, almost two degrees cooler than this date last year. Arjun notes the barnacle line is also a finger's breadth higher than June. We will not read too much into one walk.
— Arjun & Mei-Lin, binder #17, page 42
02 Oct · Shorebird Log · Outer sandbar · Dawn shift
First semipalmated plovers of the season late-flight.
Nine birds, moving steadily from the bar to the wrack line and back. Mei-Lin's note, verbatim: "Arrived four days earlier than the ten-year mean. Wind light, sky bone-colored." The log now has entries from every April and October since 2007. Also present: two ruddy turnstones (first of the month), a dozen semipalmated sandpipers, one unidentified peep that we are content to leave unnamed.
— Mei-Lin, Shorebird Log book V
24 Sep · Marsh Transects · Line Seven · Quarterly
Line seven lost another half meter of grass.
Quarterly measurement on line seven shows the inland edge of open water has moved about 52 cm closer to the path since June. This is not a surprise; it is the third consecutive quarter of measurable loss on this line. We flagged the new edge with orange tape (to be replaced with a permanent stake on the next visit), photographed the Pell-frame quadrat, and walked back slowly. Line three, by contrast, held steady.
— Arjun & crew of four, Transect binder green
14 Sep · Foreshore Schoolroom · Willet's Cove
Twenty-eight children, one very patient hermit crab.
Two classes joined us for the autumn foreshore walk. A shy hermit crab in the middle pool became the afternoon's unexpected teacher, emerging slowly enough for every child to get a good look. The field guide passed through every pair of hands. A child named Ruth sketched the crab and labeled it, in careful pencil, "Mr. Sideways." Nobody wanted to leave, which is the correct feeling to have about a tidepool.
— Wren, schoolroom folder
08 Sep · Tidepool Watch · Outer point · Low 16:44
Green crabs: still present, still abundant.
No change from previous month. Count within the expected range (37 in the north quadrat, 41 in the south). Worth recording that "no change" is itself the observation. Water clear, kelp intact, one juvenile lobster under the usual rock.
— Hollis & Tomás, binder #17, page 39
22 Aug · Tidepool Watch · Spider Ledge · Low 14:02
A sea star, for the first time in three years.
One northern sea star (Asterias rubens), about 8 cm across, in the low pool west of Spider Ledge. We have not logged one at this site since August 2022. Hollis was quietly pleased. We did not move it; we noted the spot in relation to the reference boulder and left it to its afternoon.
— Hollis & Priya (trainee), binder #17, page 36
30 Jul · Shorebird Log · Middle bar
A quiet morning, worth recording as such.
Two hours at the middle bar. Six semipalmated sandpipers, one great black-backed gull loitering, no plovers. Fog burned off about 06:40. Tide turned at 07:12. Nothing notable, which is itself a kind of note.
— Tomás, Shorebird Log book V