Wavecrest Discoveries

10/08/2024

Happy 50th Anniversary of this memorable Oregon Coast event!

The infamous KATU Exploding Whale video has remastered! To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the infamous beached whale incident that took place in Florence,...

22/04/2024

Check out this interesting concept for Earth Day:

The Sounds Right initiative will allow artists who use recorded sounds from nature to credit “NATURE” and give royalties toward conservation.

24/03/2024

A great excuse to get out!

Today is not a fluke, it's the kickoff for Spring Whale Watch Week in Oregon 🐳

Oregon State Parks has 15 designated Whale Watch sites (see below) for the annual spring migration of gray whales. Volunteers will be ready to help you spot the whales and answer your questions.

🔸Fort Stevens State Park--Peter Iredale Shipwreck
🔹Neahkahnie Mountain Overlook
🔸Cape Meares Lighthouse
🔹Boiler Bay State Scenic Viewpoint
🔸The Whale Watching Center
🔹Rocky Creek State Scenic Viewpoint
🔸Otter Crest State Scenic Viewpoint Cape Foulweather
🔹Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area
🔸Yachats State Recreation Area
🔹Cape Perpetua Turnout
🔸Heceta Head Lightouse
🔹Umpqua Lighthouse
🔸Shore Acres State Park
🔹Face Rock Scenic Viewpoint
🔸Harris Beach State Park

📸: Chanel Hason, Depoe Bay, OR, Gray Whale Fluke

24/03/2024

Two very different mosses growing together along the John Dellenback Trail in the Oregon Dunes last week. (Plus a flat, grayish lichen, and a few small white flowers fallen from a hairy manzanita--and even a red manzanita berry from last year hiding below a moss frond...)

24/08/2023

A delightful discovery about one species of deep sea octopus from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) ...

Just offshore of Central California, deep below the ocean’s surface, thousands of octopus gather near an extinct underwater volcano. Welcome to the Octopus G...

08/08/2023

Even the Merriam-Webster dictionary thinks birdcalls are interesting!

15 bird sounds, and the birds who make them

11/06/2023

They're addictive: the short, riveting YouTube videos of the Ocean Conservation Namibia's fur seal rescue operations.
Here's the trailer for the short-term premier of a documentary, "Cutting the Line," on the team and their efforts:

Cutting the Line follows husband and wife team, Naude and Katja Dreyer, and their three children as they embark on a mission to rescue seals entangled in deadly…

26/03/2023

Wow!
I wonder what other wanderer may be next in Oregon...

A wolverine was spotted this week by people fishing on the Columbia River near Portland, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

27/01/2023

Itching to take the perfect storm wave photos this winter?
Check out Steven Michael's guidance:
https://travelsouthernoregoncoast.com/travel-guides/capture-incredible-images-at-shore-acres-state-park/?fbclid=IwAR39q7PETsEwuXw5w1CjmR1DZz7TkPALb-vFXEbhiW_3XgRZBa-VvcbqX3Y

Your South Oregon Coast adventure awaits! Start planning. Read: Capture Incredible Images at Shore Acres State Park

01/12/2022

Winter on the Oregon Coast is the season for cloudy skies. There's a "new" cloud above the horizon: asperitas.
Thanks to Mark Stueve for this fascinating link with stunning videos:

Why Asperitas Clouds - or Undulatus Asperatus - are so rare. Want to see the world through the eyes of a scientist? Visit https://brilliant.org/astrum to sam...

24/11/2022

Feasting on turkey this Thanksgiving?
Check out the Audubon Society's webpage on North America's wild turkey:

Super vision? Flowing beards? Spiral poo? Yeah, there's plenty to talk about when it comes to this American icon.

14/07/2022

Thank you, NASA, for massively ramping up star-gazing!

https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-reveals-cosmic-cliffs-glittering-landscape-of-star-birth

This landscape of “mountains” and “valleys” speckled with glittering stars is actually the edge of a nearby, young, star-forming region called NGC 3324 in the Carina Nebula. Captured in infrared light by NASA’s new James Webb Space Telescope, this image reveals for the first time previousl...

07/05/2022

My mother always said, "Smoke follows beauty"--but that saying didn't make the campfire smoke in my face more pleasant.
Why does campfire or firepit smoke seem to follow us?
The Sci Show has the answer!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgxO7vhlF7A

Visit http://brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free, and the first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription.You kn...

30/04/2022

Heavy surf at Shore Acres Cliffs, late February 2021.

30/04/2022

Heavy surf at Shore Acres Cliffs, January 2021.

31/03/2022

We may be able to see the aurora borealis in Oregon tonight--and the weather prediction is favorable for the Southern Oregon Coast.
Find a dark place with a clear view north. Fingers crossed!
https://www.livescience.com/cannibal-coronal-mass-ejection-inbound

The giant solar flare is a combination of two massive ejections from the sun's surface.

21/02/2022

World-class idea...
What ocean sounds would you like most to hear?
https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/marine-life/archiving-ocean-orchestra/

The ocean is humming – and crackling, growling, grunting – with the sounds of its inhabitants, and researchers are racing to record them all.

02/02/2022

Pyrosomes (aka "sea pickles" or Pyrosoma atlanticum) are again washing ashore some of Oregon's beaches.
[Answers to the most common questions about them: each of these "pickles" is a colony of rice-sized individuals; they can't hurt you; they're not worth eating--certainly not by people; and the 60' long colonies you may have seen photos of are a different species.]
Interesting possible link to "The Blob" indicated in this 2017 University of Oregon paper:
https://scienceandmemory.uoregon.edu/pyrosomes.html

From 2013 to 2015, a large mass of warm water nicknamed “The Blob” flowed along the West Coast, stretching from Alaska to Mexico. While scientists are not completely sure where this warm water came from, many argue that it is due to the Arctic sea ice melting at a faster rate than previously rec...

11/01/2022

The "Damp Season" is a great time for slime molds. Check out these stellar images to inspire you to look for them:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-bizarre-fruiting-bodies-of-slime-molds/

Only about a tenth of an inch tall, these protist growths take on truly strange forms

04/01/2022

The gray whales are passing the Oregon Coast now, on their way to a warm February in Baja California. This great website has information on some of the best known individuals:
https://www.individuwhale.com/meet-the-whales/

Meet the Whales Get to know some of the gray whales that are frequently observed off the Oregon Coast. Buttons Buttons is a chameleon, as he has been misidentified on three separate occasions! Meet This Whale » Clouds & Cheetah Clouds & Cheetah are a mom-calf pair that we have documented every year...

15/10/2021

It's mushroom season!..but there's much more below the fruiting bodies we see:

The above-ground part of the mushroom is called the fruiting body, while the root system of the mushroom is called the mycelium. Composed of a dense mass of fine, thread-like filaments of tissue called hyphae, the mycelium is an essential part of the life support system for the fungus and the over all ecosystem as they form symbiotic relationships with plant roots, improving their ability to utilize the soils resources and communicate about potential threats.

Mycorrhizal relationships are between a root and a fungus and together these form a symbiotic relationship. This is a relationship that is beneficial to both parties. Since the fungus lives in the in the ground, in the dark, it cannot photosynthesize, so it has to get its food from other sources.

So the mycorrhizal fungi go looking for a partner, or thousands of partners. They go up to a root tip and give it a chemical signal to let it know it is there and available, and “would you like my help?” The root then may respond, with a chemical signal, “yes, I would.” And it will soften its tissue and allow the fungal hyphae in amongst its root cells. The hyphae are like long, very thin filaments. After taking up residence in the plant root the filaments grow outward in search of the minerals and water the plant needs. In exchange, the symbiosis part, the plant gives the fungus a variety of sugars to build its body structure.

The fungi can reach out and do a much more efficient and thorough job of extracting water from the soil, helping to increase drought tolerance in plants. And they can hunt. They can invade the bodies of soil dwelling insects, suck them dry and send all the nutrients back to the host plant in forms that are usable to the plant.

The fungal hyphae seem to be paving the way towards better soil texture, as well as feeding their host plant. They exude a compound called gomalin, which is a sticky substance that surrounds soil particles which improves soil texture and aeration.

In a pinch of soil there can be several miles of fungal hyphae. In the forest there is so much connectivity between mycorrhizal fungi and their trees that it may well be that they are all connected and there seems to be good evidence that there is a level of communication between trees and across species

Studies have shown that mycorrhizal root systems increase the absorptive area of roots 10 to 1000 times, thereby greatly improving the ability of the plants to utilize the soil resources.

We talk to our plants, but now we know that Plants Talk to Each Other Through Mycorrhizae, warning each other when they have been attacked by insects like aphids!

read more
https://www.theunion.com/entertainment/activities-and-events/mycorrhizae-root-fungus-partnership/

SOIL MICROBIOME http://b4fa.org/soil-microbiome-research-practice/

27/09/2021

Looking for suggestions for mushroom guidebooks for the Pacific NorthWest?
Check out this list offered by the Oregon Mycological Society:
https://www.wildmushrooms.org/resources/book-sales/

As a convenience to members, OMS offers a small number of book titles for sale at most meetings and Mycology Camp, and at our Fall Show. We do not sell books on line.

05/09/2021

Want to watch a sand dollar eat?
Check out this great "Deep Look" video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxZdBPDNiF4

Their skeletons are prized by beachcombers, but sand dollars look way different in their lives beneath the waves. Covered in thousands of purple spines, they...

24/06/2021

Interesting OPB story on purple sea urchins:
https://www.opb.org/article/2021/06/17/superabundant-oregon-purple-sea-urchin/

The purple sea urchin population on the West coast has skyrocketed, putting the coastal ecosystem in peril. If you can't beat them, eat them.

09/06/2021

Happy World Oceans Day!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USevx6KYmSs

This World Ocean Day, we are celebrating the global ocean that connects us all. The deep sea is the largest living space on Earth. Weird and wonderful animal...

03/06/2021

Check this out!
(You can tighten the view to anywhere in the lower 48--including the Coos Watershed.)
https://river-runner.samlearner.com/

Watch the path of a raindrop from anywhere in the contiguous United States

09/02/2021

Great introduction to one of the best geologic stories anywhere--in Oregon's Willamette Valley.
(Thanks, Grant McOmie!)
https://www.kgw.com/article/travel/destinations/grants-getaways/grants-getaways-oregons-ice-age-story/283-8e785440-b3b8-4f2b-9026-2b9738df8089?fbclid=IwAR3bMnSWV9zNpAhewoiNPPEY9JHtJ9_qqWHVBWD0PnVVJLEOjwuFgjtMQUU

Grant McOmie shows us how an ancient story has caught on with Oregon adventurers.