Journey Through January

Below are the photos I took at the end of January...it was a pretty good beach-combing day! 

I arrive at the beach about 15-20 min. before sunrise; parking is about two blocks' distance north of the best shelling spots, near the mouth of Matanzas Inlet and the bridge over the inlet. So normally my first photos are of the sunrise, right before I descend upon the best shelling area . . .

This calico scallop was a nice surprise ~ probably the prettiest one I've found on the east coast.

In January I found two horse conch spirals (different days); this is the 2nd one (see previous post for 1st one). I very rarely find any tips like this let alone a whole conch; they are much more common on the Gulf. Below is the one and only whole horse conch I've found in five solid years of shelling Matanzas Beach. It was a very rare and lucky find! (Found in 2015) I've left it as is; if I clean it up it will be solid white. As battered as it is, I don't want to risk more damage, plus I like the coloring.

Heading back, south of the bridge . . . this landscape changes so much, even by the month . . .

A pretty shark eye . . .

A fossilized lettered olive . . . very rare for me to find one in this beige color. See below - the white fossilized one is from sun exposure; not sure if the beige one is earlier phase of sun bleaching, before turning white; black one is from the shell being buried in sediment for a long time (lack of oxygen).

A lovely number three . . .

A scallop and two shark eyes all found close together . . .

Another pretty, "fresh" scallop . . . most the scallops I find are "aged"

A golden jingle shell (oyster var.); gold ones are the least common I find. White is most common, then there are black ones; also black from being buried in sediment a long time (goes for all shells).

This scallop is in good cond., but does show a bit of "aging"

A lightning whelk . . . just a little bit rough on the edge of the aperture's outer lip . . .

A young angelwing . . . surprising since normally I find this species of angelwing full-size . . .

This is the second one of these bones I've found...any clue? It's the plastron (lower shell) bone of a sea turtle . . .

Surprisingly, of all the gray and black tinted shells I find, this is only the second buttercup lucine I've found discolored. The outside shell is originally white, with cream or yellow inner shell. The Atlantic seems to produce the cream ones, the Gulf has the yellow ones. The ones here on the Atlantic side are also much bigger. My field guide says they reach 2.5" but I have one that is 4" across.

A light colored lettered olive . . .

This day I found several small, whole mussel shells, extremely unusual! And yes, it does look like a black butterfly, or moth!

Another pretty white baby's ear to add to the collection.

Pink and Silver

I'm always amazed when the sunrise casts a pink hue on the entire sea scape, with touches of lavender . . . and a hint of orange . . . but I also love the beauty of a soft, silvery sunrise. This series of photos were taken in January . . .

One of those pink and lavender sunrises . . . with two shorebirds hunting breakfast . . .

This battered lined sea star is only about the 3rd one I've seen so far . . .

I don't know why, but I collect the horseshoe crab tails when I find them!

Here's the beautiful silvery sea scape just before the sun rises above the horizon . . .

I seriously doubt this is an old piece of pottery like they find on Great Britain shores, but it's still pretty darn rare to find any at all so I was tickled pink!

Above, it's always a thrill to find whole whelks in good shape, no matter how small . . .
Below, it was painful to put this one back in the waves, but it was occupied . . .

Now this plain Jane shell was very exciting to find! It may not be pretty, but it IS rare! There are 10 types of ark shells found in FL; I have found 7 I believe. I did already have one of this, a mossy ark. Note the bits of "moss" along the edge. When alive, this is a frilly-looking periostracum.

There are four types of angel wings here in Florida; I find the angelwing (below, for comparison), the campeche angelwing (above), and the false angelwing. Have not found a fallen-angelwing.

Once in awhile the shore is dotted with foam . . . sea foam is created from a wide range of mostly planktonic plants and animals. Wind and surface currents bring billions of these tiny critters to the surf where their cells are pulverized and their proteins and fats are whipped into suds.

A great black-backed gull having a little meditative time . . . these gulls are striking when it comes to size. Both winter in Florida...the lesser BBG gets to 20", found around the southern half of FL coasts, from Cape Canaveral down, on the east side. The great BBG reaches 28", is found in the same areas but also along the N half of E Florida shores. Neither bird is a common sighting, but I always see one at "my" beach in winter, 2-3 different times. Same one? Dunno!

Feathered Friends

It's spring migration time, which is very exciting here in Florida . . . all sorts of pretty, interesting migrators come through the state, including stops in my backyard along the way. I haven't seen the painted buntings or indigo buntings in a couple seasons now, unfortunately. But still, between the usual moochers and the passers-by, backyard birding is pretty awesome!

Palm Warblers like S Florida, like human snow birds do . . . I see just a few, very briefly as they migrate far north for summer. I was very lucky to catch this fellow in a natural setting!

Common year-round in W and E states (excluding Florida), I rarely see house finches, but it seems a scraggler shows up each year at this time. Above is the purple male, below is the female.

American Goldfinches pass through very briefly, in groups . . .

A female red-winged blackbird seems to show up both during winter and spring migration. I've seen a male most winters, very briefly, as well.

E Bluebirds are here year-round, and have become regular visitors to my mealworm feeder . . .

 A female downy woodpecker, being photo-bombed by a mourning dove. The male appears too; one or the other comes to the block of suet. Supposedly here year-round, but I only see them in spring / early summer.

Carolina Wren amongst the bottlebrush blossoms that the squirrels have broken off and discarded from the tree . . . the wrens are here year-round. They like to flit around low to the ground, but do come to my feeders for the mealworm.

This is NOT a normal sight, ha! White ibises in a pine tree in a neighbor's yard. When we get a lot of rain and puddles form in front and back yards, they come around foraging for live grub in the grass and muck. This little flock did come down to our yard. Ibises do pass through on foot once in awhile, again, after rainfall (below) . . .

Shell Yea!

I'm happy to report that my Beach Therapy yesterday morning went very well . . . I had the shell hot-spots to myself (first dibs!) and it was a pretty good beach-combing day . . .

Just before the sun rises above the horizon . . .

Early on, I found this really nice lightning whelk! It's pretty rare for me to find one this size in such good condition and with such nice coloring . . .

I found a handful of shark's eyes; there seems to be a good amount of goldens lately . . .also not a common thing at "my" beach . . .

Just before 7:10 a.m., the sun rose . . .

I found this lettered olive (L) and calico scallop (R) together . . .

But this beauty was definitely the nicest olive for the day . . .

I think I've said this before, but I do love the triangular shape of the Southern surfclam shell!

There were a handful of white baby's ears too . . .

. . . this was the nicest shark's eye in the day's bunch . . .
It was buried upside down and barely showing, a lucky find . . .

A nice Salle's auger . . .

A very unusually pale shark's eye . . .

The Atlantic giant cockle is common at this beach, but I still enjoy finding them . . .

A jingle (oyster) shell (L) and a white Atlantic semele

Another pretty pear whelk apex! Boy if only I could find a whole one, ha!