The Sand , The Sea . . . and Me: 5/1/15

May 29, 2015

Blue for the Blues

On the home front…I was lucky to get one shot of papa bluebird fairly close-up, as he was checking out the tray feeder…nothing in there he wants, unfortunately. Don't think he and the Mrs. ate any of the mealworms I put out, but maybe I just never witnessed it. The past few days I had the feeling they were gone, and I finally got up the nerve to open the birdhouse door…empty. No egg shells, in there or on the ground, not a single downy feather. Just a perfect, neat grassy nest. So I'm feeling blue over the fact that if there were babies and they've fledged, I never got to see a thing. :( I do hear a lot of squeaky bird chirping in the trees around the house, so maybe they're out there nearby.

…On the beach front, I've been continuing my early morning visits to the beach, in time to see the sunrise, 3 times a week lately…

…I was recently thrilled to find this hermit crab, heading into the surf…it appears to be toting a tatty shark's eye shell, with an anemone on the back of it! This was my first hermit crab sighting…I just love how the beach is always changing, like a magical playground, displaying the sea's endless treasures at its whim….

Even though they're somewhat "plain", I really like the cross-barred venus shells…they're normally white, but this one had a cream color and looks nice on the orange shell hash…the criss-crossing lines make a lovely pattern…lately I've been finding several Venuses per visit...

…Besides the venus shells, I also find a few scallops and a few lettered olive shells at each visit to one particular beach, so there can be some consistencies on the beach as well as the surprises.

May 23, 2015

Scotch and Nutmeg

Yesterday was amazing, filled with several firsts. Once again I hit the beach just before sunrise, trudging past a few surf fishermen that had planted their rods and themselves not far from the beach access stairs. I moved north first, stopping to admire the red and orange sunrise...

After strolling near the surf, I made my way up to the high tide line once, then twice…the 2nd time I found this gorgeous Scotch bonnet shell! It's in pristine condition, and I was thrilled silly!

Not long after that, another awesome 1st find…a common nutmeg, which wasn't common for me at all.

Eventually, I headed back south, past the fishermen…and found my first lined sea star...

There were a lot of small thorny starfish as well...

…And one royal starfish, which was alive, so I tossed it back into the surf, though I know it was probably pointless...

This wasn't the first green mussel I'd found…I'd found a single shell once, but it wasn't in as good of shape, plus this is a whole (open, empty) bi-valve. The green mussel is an invasive clam from Asia, unfortunately. According to the U of Florida, "In Florida, green mussels have already caused problems for some coastal industries. These dense assemblages of mussels can be costly problems when they clog seawater intakes, weigh down navigation buoys and foul the hulls and engines of boats. Green mussels can also have serious effects on Florida's native fauna. In Tampa Bay, some native oyster reefs have died off after being smothered by green mussels."

…Later on, at home, I saw my first great crested flycatcher perched on top of the bird feeder pole…they don't eat at feeders, so it was just checking out what all the other birds were up to, and left…before I could get a photo. Ugh. But hey, I was thrilled to see it, a lifer!

May 15, 2015

July in May

The weather has been humid and a little hot, more like June or July than May, here in NE Florida…I've taken to getting up before 6 a.m. to get to the beach just before sunrise, to beat the heat…and the other shell seekers. I've also spent three hours on the beach the past couple visits…amazing how time flies when you're having fun…

…You can see the humid haze in the sunrise yesterday… (and a lone ruddy turnstone…)

…the white baby's ears are fairly common at "my" beach; I always find a few...

…I also find a few scallops and several slippersnails…

…But this was the first lightning whelk egg casing I've come across so far…there are actually tiny lightning whelks inside!

…Speaking of whelks, I found this slightly roughed up, but whole knobbed whelk last week...

…This tiny striped porcelain crab was perched on a large horseshoe crab carcus recently...

…This is the horseshoe crab, with the water bottle for size reference…the crabs reach up to 24" and I'd say this one was almost that, from the tip of its tail to the top...quite large...

…Another scallop…most scallops I find on "my" beach are black, which means they were buried for a long time in sediment…lately I've been finding white ones...

…The lettered olive shells are fairly common too…I usually find 1-3 of them.

The beaches of St. John and Flagler Co. are known for their coquina limestone sand and coquina clam shells, but I normally see single shell halves…I recently came across a large pile of live coquinas that had washed ashore, included the pretty striped ones, which usually are pretty scarce to me.

… ? ? ? It appears that a shorebird…seagull…? Landed here, contemplated the little shell wrack, then flew off again…I found this pair of lone footprints in the sand, no other prints around them.

…I'm enjoying seeing the Wilson's plovers; don't know how I missed them the past 3 years…they summer here in NE Florida, but are found year-round in S. Florida.

…Also, on closer inspection of grainy photos, I realized these were not the commonly seen sanderlings (which have dark legs) I thought they were…they're least sandpipers, which have yellowish legs. They should be heading on north soon...

Imagine my surprise and delight at finding another lovely royal starfish, posing beautifully on top of a pile of shell hash….hmm did I even share my first time finding one of these? Doesn't look like it…oops! Quite the stunning surprise, needless to say!

Twice I've seen this Nanday (or black-faced) parakeet duo perched on a wire along Hwy. A1A by a line of beach homes….the parakeets are native to S. America and, like the monk parakeets seen in S. Florida, are escaped exotic pets. These are the first exotic escapees I've seen here.

May 08, 2015

The Bald Truth . . .

Another beach therapy day today…sometimes a beachcomber's best find for the day, isn't on the sand…so here's the bald truth, which can now be told since I've been able to right a wrong…the first time I visited this beach, since deciding to make an effort to go weekly, I did not take my SLR camera. At that time, I was strolling along, scanning the sand…rounded the bend where the Atlantic and Matanzas Inlet meet, and lo and behold…a bald eagle. A stationery, perched bald eagle, just waiting for some camera nut to have a field day. Needless to say, a whole lot of moaning and groaning and sand-kicking ensued. ARG! That'll teach me…and yes, it did. On the way home, I slinked into Walmart and bought a backpack. Now the SLR rides piggyback on the beach…

AnyWHO, this am, (weeks later now), bright and early, I once again round the bend, lo and behold…Mr. or Mrs. Baldie has returned…Oh Yay!! The eagle was actually perched on a very tall post, a handful of yards away….

…. Like this….

…I was so busy falling over myself to get photos of baldie that the black-bellied plover that I was trying to capture during my previous beach bumming excursion, almost went unnoticed…still didn't get a decent shot of the fully transitioned-to-summer-plumage plover, but you can see that the black and white is striking…

…I also nearly tripped over a snowy egret that was fishing and striding past me...

…the same pretty much goes for the common grackle...

…By the way, the sunrise was lovely this morning...

On the way back from whence I came, I passed this big (22"), peg-legged immature lesser black-backed gull…I always seem to stumble upon one lone LBB gull each visit to this beach…there were also Wilson's plovers and sanderlings that I didn't capture...

…This brown 2" common American auger shell was my favorite find on the sand today...

The ruddy turnstones have their summer plumage now…

…This shrimp was probably left by a surf fisherman…

There have been a lot of shells on the beach lately, that have anemones on them, like this ark…
I'm not sure but these may be hermit crab anemones…

My 2nd sighting of red knots in summer plumage…

Just another therapeutic day on the beach :)

May 01, 2015

Sea Treasure Finds...

When I decided to make the effort to get beach therapy on a weekly basis (as much as humanly possible)…I started out visiting N. Peninsula Beach, which is just south of Flagler Beach. It's a nice enough beach, esp. since almost no one goes there, but the bounty from beach-combing isn't the greatest. The best seashells are on the W. coast of Florida, but I still manage to find plenty of interesting, attractive shells and other neat sea treasures….