Haystack Rock Awareness Program Nature Blog

As summer comes to an end, we at HRAP are reflecting on a busy summer and its challenges and rewards. One of the biggest rewards was seeing the resident Black Oystercatcher pair successfully raise a chick for the first time in six years! After losing their first nest in late May, they tried again with one egg. The chick hatched in late June, and it was a joy to watch the pair raise the chick in the nesting area until mid-August, when the chick fledged and started to forage around Haystack Rock under the watchful eyes of its parents. We are still seeing the trio foraging together on the boulders on the north and south sides, as well as along the north wall. The chick will stay with its parents until next spring, when it will head off into the world to try to find a mate. The Black Oystercatcher chick left the nest area with its parents around August 12. Here they are foraging on the north side (parents top and bottom, chick in the middle). Photo by Tia Prudholm The black oyster...

If you’ve been following HRAP on Facebook and Instagram, you know that we first sighted puffins at Haystack Rock on April 3! Since then, the weather has often been challenging for puffin-spotting (and everything else!) with wind, rain, high surf, and surging waves. Nonetheless, we’ve seen 10-16 puffins on many days, and more on a few calmer days. Calm mornings at low tide are the best times to come down to try to spot them.   Other than puffins, our usual cast of bird characters – including murres, guillemots, cormorants, black oystercatchers, harlequin ducks, Canada geese, and bald eagles – has been a reliable presence. In the tidepools we’ve seen many opalescent nudibranchs, aggregating and moon glow anemones, a few ochre sea stars, and a leather sea star too. As the weather improves, there will be more opportunities to see the amazing wildlife that lives, feeds, nests, and hunts at Haystack Rock. We are looking forward to it and hope you'll come to visit! ...

On March 1, HRAP Naturalists Ellison and Andrea were surprised to find an unusual-looking sea star in the Marine Garden tide pools, and showed it to me (Margaret). I wasn’t quite sure what species it was, so I took a picture and uploaded it to the mobile app iNaturalist , hoping that the other users of the app would help me identify the star.  Within a day, the users on iNaturalist had identified it as a Mottled Star ( Evasterias troschelii ). Mottled Stars are more commonly found in Puget Sound, but are sometimes seen on the coasts of Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alaska, and northern California. My observation was also added to the iNaturalist project, Tracking Starfish Wasting and Recovery , which is helping to monitor recovery of sea star populations from Sea Star Wasting Disease. If you see any sea stars while tidepooling, you can snap a photo (safely and without disturbing the star, of course!) and upload it to iNaturalist to help with this project, too! ...

❤ Here is an update of our magical moments from Haystack Rock! ❤ One of our favorite visitors, Barbara Hauser, wearing the latest fashion in Puffin ! Puffins line down alongside the center of her coat's zipper. Don't we all wish we had one of these? 🙋🙌 This is what our inter tidal area of Haystack Rock's Marine Preserve looks like once the tide starts coming up quick! Be aware and don't forget, the ocean comes up really quick (after hitting low tide)!💧💦 A beautiful, healthy sea star enjoying some underwater sun!😁 The sunset frames Haystack Rock in pink from sea to sky! 💗 All Photos by: Brianna Ortega