Chloe: Tidepools and Monkeys

Chloe: Today my mom and I decided to take a trip to the tide pools.  We got on our bikes and set off.  Of the three most interesting things we found during the trip, only one was in the tide pool, however.

First, on our way there, we heard some chirping in a tree, so we decided to investigate the noise.  As we surveyed the trees, some birds flew out and were chasing each other.  They were especially graceful.  They were leaf-green birds with yellow wingtips.  I believe they were some type of parakeet.  They were super cool.

Next we got to the beach.  We were looking for some starfish that we saw the other day.  The starfish were different than the one’s back home because they were surprisingly fast.  We wanted to take some pictures of them, since we forgot our camera the first time around.  

In our search for the starfish, we discovered an octopus camouflaged among the rocks.  The octopus was a rust color similar to the seaweed nearby.  He was about the size of my hand when he was all stretched out.  But when the octopus swam, it squirted through the water and contorted its body into a comet shape about the size of my thumb.  We picked him up to examine him more closely, and we found that his little suction cups tickled our fingers.  When we released him he zipped into a tiny hole, no bigger than a centimeter. 

Finally, on our way back home, we heard a strange noise in the trees.  It was something like a cross between and pig’s oink and a dog’s bark.  So we decided to do a little reconnaissance.   When we checked out the treetops we saw about five monkeys.  Two were in their own trees.  The other three were most likely a family, including a baby.  They were a dark brown color, almost black, and sounded like howler monkeys. We didn't really get a good picture, sorry.  But I was thrilled that I finally got to see a monkey!