Beach-combing Bonanza

Despite the threatening weather, Beach Therapy on this past Friday was really, really good . . . look closely, there's the juvenile reddish egret wading in the foreground . . . look very closely, you can see a flock of brown pelicans heading north just below the horizon (on the left) . . .

It's always thrilling to find a whole whelk shell . . . this small (1.75") Lightning Whelk has very strong dark brown markings . . .

This is the first whole (double-shelled) Atlantic cockle I've ever found; it's small, but it was still an exciting find!

I do have, somewhere in my shoe box sized pile of "misc. clam shells", another one of these Lightning Venus clam shells, but I don't believe the markings are this distinct.

I found two pieces of aqua sea glass; this was the larger piece, approx. 1.25" wide.

Another first  ~  a Jujube Topsnail !

Not a first, but a second . . . a very small Thick-lipped Drill . . .

It was a very good day for finding whelk pieces . . .  my shell bag runneth over!

A Changing Sunrise and Other Treasures

Another pleasant beach therapy session was procured on Tues. I arrived a bit earlier than usual, and it was a little too dark to see what was under foot very well…at first. But then, I was on a mission to reach the shell "hot spots" before anyone else did. It's summer now, and the tourists are showing up at the condos just north of my favorite beach-combing beach. I was first in line this day, however . . .

The pre-sunrise skyline was awe-inspiring, as usual . . .

I actually didn't find hardly anything on my way down the beach along the water's edge,

but on my way back, I walked the high tide line and found this lightning venus shell (a first!)

I've found several favored tellin shells, but not like this beige-ringed one.

Normally they're white. So, another first of sorts!

Once the sun was above the horizon, the colors changed notably . . .

I never tire of finding Atlantic calico scallop shells…esp. ones with barnacles attached…

Look closely, the two barnacles on the left are striped acorn barnacles (white with purple
stripes), and the one on the right is a rock acorn barnacle (solid purplish-reddish).

I found two very nice, good-sized shark's eye shells . . . this one was covered in sand

and I almost didn't see it . . .

At one point I did go back to the water's edge on my way back up the beach . . . and found two little hermit crabs cruising along near one another . . . this little guy stopped and went into his shell when I neared for a photo . . . I didn't realize until I cropped the photo, that I'd had two beady little crab eyes keeping a close eye on me!