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The Daily Bucket - TropicalTuesday warmth [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-12-03  

It’s a chilly 36° this morning in the PNW islands. The fall proliferation of mushrooms has faded and the chipmunks have retreated to their winter dens. The sun even at midday is low over the horizon and the light is so dim my camera tells me to turn on the flash if I’m under any canopy.

I do love winter in the Northwest, with all the ducks and shorebirds and quiet time. But I also start dreaming of warm tropical waters at this season, even though our annual trip to the Caribbean isn’t until spring. One fun project to evoke that time is finally getting around to recording our observations from last year’s trip into our dive logs (from ad hoc notes) — those are useful in monitoring populations and conditions. And #TropicalTuesday is what I’m calling a (hopefully) weekly BlueSky post. Social-mediawise I’m not all that involved but I did sign up at BlueSky, mostly as solidarity against you-know-who’s site (oceandiverlo.bsky.social‬).

For a bucket today, here are some warm tropical moments to vicariously enjoy in our December cold.

Parrotfish grazing on coral

Mr O communing with reef squid

Corals waving in the surge at the crest of the wall

Half Moon Caye, inside Lighthouse Reef atoll

Boobies hunting

Cattle egrets in the mangroves, Turneffe atoll, Belize

Frigatebird harassing cormorant

Sunset on Little Cayman

Sand is a constant presence where we go in the tropics and subtropics, formed from wave action on coral, limestone and other bedrock, plus shells, coralline algae. This is a beach on Little Cayman island:

Adding a shout-out to Mentha for the samples she just sent from her own recent tropical trip. Thank you so much! These are sites I’ve never visited. Quite varied sand, being from such different sources. Now added to the sand library.

Mentha’s samples

In the South America section

🐟

Chilly in the Pacific Northwest islands today. Some fog and high overcast. Calm. Dry.

What’s up in nature in your neighborhood?

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