Shellfish Barge

Day 313: Today I had occasion to go on a nature walk on the Nisqually Land Trust's Hogum Bay property. While most of this holding is forested, it does include a "pocket marsh" and miniature estuary which drain into Puget Sound. Much of our time was spent on the beach where only a stone's throw away, we could see several of the shellfish barges owned by the adjacent processing plant. Evidence of the success of this type of "farming" was apparent all over our beach where mussel, clam and oyster shells lay in a thick carpet. Overhead, an eagle was searching for leftovers, and in the bay, several harbour seals could be seen paddling about. I was surprised, however, at the lack of sea birds and other wildlife on this occasion. Other than one shorebird skittering along the beach, the eagle was the only bird I observed.