February in August . . .

. . . Another glorious sunrise over the Atlantic, in Feb., the coldest month of the year here in NE Florida. And I do mean cold . . . during one beach visit, my feet were so painfully numb I had to cut the time there short. But the sunrises are worth it!

I continued to find interesting calico scallops in Feb. Above, this scallop has acorn barnacles attached. The gray and yellow one below, was an especially unique find . . .

I found my second common nutmeg shell! Don't let the photo fool you, they only reach a max of 1.7" (4.5 cm)

I thought this was a "turkey wing" ark, but it's a red-brown ark. I only have one turkey wing, from the Gulf Coast. I have about 3 of these red-browns, compared to zillions of the incongruous arks. There are actually 10 types of arks found in Florida.

This royal starfish was growing an arm back . . .

I know it's sad to see a dead sea creature, but I was also fascinated to see a puffer fish on the beach. This is a Spiny Box Puffer, or Striped Burrfish.

I found a mostly buried sand dollar . . . and was surprised that it was a whole one!

Ring-billed gulls were hanging out one morning . . .

As were these herring gulls . . . (note pale pink legs) . . . only seen in winter here.

Royal terns are seen year-round, but it's more fun to see their 'do in winter. The "Florida's Living Beaches" ID book actually notes that "Royal terns shun 'the comb-over' " !

The Forster's terns were chillin' too . . . note the black mottled crown above the eye patch ~ in late winter, their heads darken from masks to caps.

This ruddy turnstone's plumage is transitioning from breeding to winter colors. Ruddies winter along most of Florida's coastlines, but they live year-round along the panhandle coast.

A Laughing Lifer

We made it back to Ft. Lauderdale Beach today...

We both could swear we'd seen a sign

ID'ing it as Dania Beach but

That was probably the area just south of

The parking lot we'd used last time

And this time...

Anyway, I put the camera in a small backpack

And we hoofed it S on the beach again,

But not one skimmer peeked out

Among the terns....sigh...

But the skimmer is supposed to be found

On all of Florida's coastline,

Year-round......

In the meantime, I did realize the other day

That I needed to pay closer attention to the gulls....

Above is a laughing gull in winter plumage...

I'm pretty sure I "saw" them during the last beach visit,

But my eyes didn't connect to my brain,

So this is untechnically a lifer...(right?)

This laughing gull is morphing from winter to summer....

The legs and bill have just a faint tinge of red to them as yet...

But the head is obviously solid black.

I sat for two hours in the sun, one hour in the shade of a palm...

Got a lovely sunburn to prove it;

Don't ask why I didn't put the 'screen on, I had it....

Fortunately my face didn't fry...

I wear a $35 light-weight baseball cap

I love the cute floppy summer hats

Many stores sell for women

BUT...my ginormous head won't fit in any of 'em...

Anyway, among the many adult ring-billed gulls

Was this imm. one

That looked to be on steroids.