Expired True's Beaked Whale

On the last day of this blog and 2013, I went out to look at and photograph an expired Trues Beaked Whale that washed ashore on Easton's Beach in Newport. I conducted hundreds of whale watches in the 1990's and have spent many more hundreds and hundreds of days at sea, and I have never had such an opportunity to see a beaked whale of any species. (Although I do believe I saw one in the Indian Ocean 1984).  Sad that I would have to see one under this circumstance.    

 

About 16-feet long

The two teeth were missing

Male

Veination in the flukes

Where two world collide- a dead whale and graffiti.

HAPPY NEW YEAR
 

Expired Trues Beaked Whale

On the last day of this blog and 2013, I went out to look at and photograph an expired Trues Beaked Whale that washed ashore on Easton's Beach in Newport. I conducted hundreds of whale watches in the 1990's and have spent many more hundreds and hundreds of days at sea, and I have never had such an opportunity to see a beaked whale of any species. (Although I do believe I saw one in the Indian Ocean 1984).  Sad that I would have to see one under this circumstance.   

It doesn't look like I'll be able to get photos out today. Standby...
  

Arctic Visitor

As it dosen't look like I'm going to getting out on the water in these last couple of weeks before the end of the year, I thought for my potential last post for this blog, that I would have to break ranks from marine to terrestial and post this photo of a Snowy Owl taken by Paul L'Etoile during last weekend's Newport-Westport Annual Christmas Bird Count. It was a bone-chilling cold day that ended up in a snow storm, so the birds were hunkered down- with the exception being these Snowy Owls, of which we counted at least four, possibly five in our sector.

                                                            Merry Christmas all.

Exotic Destination

Some seemingly unremarkable animals...

 

 

....but it's not so much what, but rather where...

...mangroves...

...and the beach at Praia Grande, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. 

 

The gulls are Kelp Gulls, and here are some Black-horned Capuchins for good measure. 

 

 

What is it?

Washed ashore last month on Third Beach. Any clue?

Growth along the  side. Indicating that it had been floating offshore for awhile.

Shrimp City

 

Full moon low tide, Newport docks.

Just astern of my friend's skiff in the photo above...

...was a congregation of  these shrimp swimming and clinging to the bulkhead.

 I caught some...

...and while I haven't ID them to species level- I think perhaps they were sand shrimp.  

Breeding? Feeding?

 

 

Cornetfish and Many-ribbed Jellyfish

Don't see these many-ribbed jellyfish all year, and then today, Second Beach is littered with them washed ashore.

 

Then, two weekends ago, during the last Norman Bird Sanctuary public seine of the year at Third Beach, Tess and I were able to pull up this wild fish- a blue-spotted cornetfish. We got it over to Salve Regina University's biology lab fish tank straightaway.

 

Notice the scup and the Northern kingfish in the background. We seined them as well.

 

 

. Sorry about the poor photography.