The Daily Bucket is a nature refuge. We amicably discuss animals, weather, climate, soil, plants, waters and note life’s patterns.
We invite you to note what you are seeing around you in your own part of the world, and to share your observations in the comments below.
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October 2020
Salish Sea, Pacific Northwest
Native Olympia oysters used to be found over as much as 20,000 acres of Puget Sound historically. Currently their range is reduced to about 150 acres due to aggressive shoreline development. The goal of a restoration project is to encourage recruitment of native oysters by spreading ground oyster shells in likely locations around the Kitsap peninsula. Oyster beds have many benefits to the marine ecosystem, from filtering the water to providing food for marine birds, fish and mammals.
The Olympia Oyster Restoration page has more detail about the ongoing project.
Liberty Bay restoration project aims to rebuild filter-feeding native
oyster populations
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Owl limpets, a type of algae-eating gastropod, are having trouble maintaining attachment to the rocks of their habitat as water temperature warms, biologists have discovered. That leaves them more vulnerable to predation. Limpets in general have a critical function in keeping algae in check in rocky habitats, otherwise a monoculture covers the substrate, reducing biodiversity. This is one of the many unexpected consequences of the increase in ocean temperatures from global warming.
Owl Limpets Struggle to Keep a Grip
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250 acres of new tidal mudflat were recovered a year ago when dikes were removed. The Stillaguamish is one of several major rivers emptying into the Salish Sea, and like all of them in pre-contact times, its delta was a critical habitat for wildlife, from nurturing juvenile salmon to foraging ground for migrating shorebirds. The Leque Island project is the most recent of several estuarine habitat renewal projects in the Salish Sea. Since the dikes came down, native vegetation like Soft-stem bulrush has moved in and thousands more birds are using the new marshland.
Healing a habitat: Leque Island estuary comes a long way in year since dikes removed
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Eight years after the Elwha River dams started coming down, biologists have noticed a somewhat worrisome response by salmon: while many are traveling up the river and spawning, very few are going up past the site of the old Glines Canyon dam (13 miles from the sea). Salmon are readily spawning above the old Elwha dam (5 miles from the sea) but are not colonizing the upper reaches of the 45-mile long Elwha River. Biologist speculate that perhaps these fish being hatchery-bred don’t have the toughness required to negotiate the rapids upriver. One fact supporting this explanation is the appearance of a vigorous summer steelhead run in the upper reaches. These fish are descendants of wild rainbow trout that were trapped behind Glines dam until it came down (Steelhead are salmonids that migrate from river to ocean to river; their close relatives who stay in rivers are known as Rainbow trout).
The Elwha dams are gone and chinook are surging back, but why are so few reaching the upper river?
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Lighter wind today after several blustery days lately in the PNW islands. Been getting chilly, temp 34° this morning. Brrrr.
What’s up in nature in your area today?
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