Flora and Fauna at the Beach

In roaming around the beach in Oregon a few weeks ago, we stumbled across some interesting plants and animals. Some were not too surprising like the herd of elk in a field near Seaside while others challenged our identification skills. This piece of driftwood was covered with what looked like shells. Upon a closer look, we saw that many of the shells had an odd protuberance which was moving! When we got back to our condo, we discovered an article we'd saved that provided the answer: razo clams.
Razor Clams
On another walk, we found some interesting and very colorful mushrooms. In searching the Internet, I think they are a type called Amanita muscaria and while beautiful, also deadly.
Amanita muscaria
The tide was very high this time, and as a result we saw lots of critters that were stranded on the beach, including this poor jellyfish.
Doomed!
Cannon Beach has rabbits everywhere! Last summer we read in the local paper that the bunnies are all related to a pair of rabbits that were set loose over 30 years ago. Where we stayed was quite a ways south of our normal bunny sightings, so imagine our surprise when we saw this little guy (gal?) in the bushes outside our condo!
Flopsy or Peter?
When we were up at the Astoria Tower, we could hear barking off in the distance, and sure enough, right near the cannery a number of sealions were making their presence known. I stopped counting at 30! They were lounging on a pier and quite particular about letting any new residents join their forces, shoving and barking loudly to keep their spot in the sun.
This is my good side, I think.
While we go to the beach for recreation, we are always aware that the ocean is a place of commerce as well. We enjoy listening to the daily shipping reports and watching the variety of vessels off shore. I can remember long ago reading about the mighty Columbia and the vast Pacific; it's quite another thing to see them first hand.
Working Hard