A Nudibranch and A Crow

During this, our last week of running trips on the boat, some of my coolest sightings have been on the dock to and from the boat.

There is one particular dock piling that seems to be a favorite of nudibranchs. Earlier this month I shared a photo of a golden dirona I saw there, but this week I found a clown dorid (Triopha catalinae):

I usually don't take much notice of the crows that hang out on the dock, but this one caught my eye. I had to do a double-take and and compare it to another nearby crow to confirm, but it was definitely missing the tip of its beak! Take a look:

It's hard to tell without taking a closer look, so here's a comparison with a normal crow's beak:

This makes the third blog post featuring an animal missing a body part. If you missed the other two, they were a fox without a tail and a Dall's porpoise without a dorsal fin. It's amazing to me how they're able to adapt and survive after such an injury, especially in the case of the crow. You've also got to wonder what kind of bind they got themselves into to end up this way! Any theories?