June, 2023
Definition of “estuary” … the tidal mouth of a river, where the out flowing river meets the incoming saltwater tide.
Relating that to Padilla Bay, where the Bay View State Park campground is, with both the Skagit River and the Samish River flowing into saltwater nearby, that means that Padilla Bay (and lots of other bays hereabouts) are part of the estuaries of those two rivers. The Skagit River, especially, is huge, one of the largest rivers flowing into saltwater on the west coast of the USA and/or Canada. Not THE largest, but one of them for sure.
On this camping trip, on my travels in the big white truck, on my drives north and south to see lots of other things here, I kept driving past this one sign that said “National Estuarine Research Reserve”. I wondered what that was, but didn’t stop because I had some other destination in mind. Today, I did not hesitate, I drove in. And I’m glad I did.
The building above is the main building with administration offices and the research center, and with the public estuarian habitat and wildlife exhibits that I’ll show you. The two buildings below are also part of this campus, and there were other buildings as well. It’s a big place; they must do lots of research and other good things here. Here’s their website.
I parked in the parking lot and then walked in towards the public exhibit section.
I reached the place where those other folks are standing. What a lovely view out under the overhead beams and plants and then out to Padilla Bay and the islands in the distance.
But … back in that open space between the two buildings with the solid roof overhead, where those people were … I realized all of them were watching something above them, something up under the roof. So, I looked up! 🙂
Here’s what I saw … dozens of birds nesting. The employees let them nest here. The employees clean the concrete below the birds at least three times a day. How cool!
Here’s a photo of one of the nests so you get a better idea of what’s going on up there. The white spots are not their eyes. The white spots are cheek stripes right behind their bills.
And then I went into the building to see the exhibits. Wow, I was impressed! It’s not overly huge but it’s packed with all manner of fascinating information … lots of photos, but also lots of large tanks with live fish, plants, and other things too many to mention.
Here (below) is how you enter …
And then you move into all of the exhibits and information.
The four photos below are of a tank where you can reach into the water and touch stuff. As many years as I’ve lived around Puget Sound, I’ve never touched those sorts of things. They felt a lot different than I thought they would. You’ll see my hand touching one thing. A micro-second after I took the photo below with my hand in the photo, that tan/orange being closed its white top pieces around my fingers and HELD ON! I guess it thought I was lunch! I was surprised how hard I had to pull to get loose. The woman behind the counter chuckled and said adults are as fascinated as the kids are with this, and yes you have pull HARD to get loose. 🙂
I’ll share with you a fraction of the photos I took. I was here for almost three hours. I’ll comment on a few things below, but mostly the photos are self-explanatory.
In the photo above, the animal in the lower right corner is a “crab zoea”. I’d never heard of it. Go look it up online.
Look at that “mouth” … the entire large end of it is the mouth, or oral “hood”.
Puget Sound is full of sea stars (commonly called star fish). I’ve seen millions of them. But I’d never seen the underside of one when it was crawling around on glass.
There were lots of signs here with photographs. The sign below talks about Cabezon fish … another thing I’d never heard of or seen. Wouldn’t it be cool to see a real live one, not just the photo that’s posted along with the sign.
I stood at that tank quite a while looking deep into the tank, hoping there might be a Cabezon down in there somewhere, hiding in the depths. I finally focused right in front of my nose … yeow!! It was right next to the glass! I was so surprised that I jerked back and had to catch myself, and I must have exclaimed because yet another staff member chuckled and told me they love to watch folks discover things here, it’s a real joy for them.
That Cabezon was huge!!
Ok, a couple more photos of other stuff …
And then I went back outside into the sunshine. Oh my that was fascinating.
Right next to the building was this Oregon Grape bush (not a grape). They are so pretty. They are native and wonderful. Our forests are full of them.
What a great place to visit! I will go back again when I’m in the area. I learned so much about things that I didn’t know anything about. And, next time, I hope I’ll still act like a kid when I see something so unexpected that it startles me or when a gentle looking little nudibranch grabs me and won’t let go. 🙂