I love my field work, but some days it is pretty tough. Plans go awry, black flies haunt us, we are cold and wet, or my fair skin is sizzling in the sun, but then there are always moments that make all of it worth while. For me, this was one of them.

While working on a beautiful clam garden we call Nuxi on Calvert Island, BC, near the Hakai Research Station, I found this little gem. My grad mate Garth was helping me that day, and we took some time to appreciate this little trooper. A juvenile Red Octopus (Octopus rubescens) just wandering around on the beach. He was probably hunting the many little shore crabs found there. It was pretty neat to see this little marine creature trucking around in my terrestrial world. We clearly impacted his plans by setting my net up where he had been hunting, but I am so grateful we got to be this up close and personal to one of my all time favorite creatures.