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.

Shell-Shocked

One of this week's visits to the beach proved to be really exciting…it was truly one of those magical moments (well, three hours) as I found awesome sea treasures one after another...

I could see this large piece of whelk shell from 40-50 yards away…the early sunrise light was hitting it just right, so that it really stood out..

…I found some more hermit crabs…it wasn't easy letting this little green shell go!

I also found my first sea beans! Above, a sea heart bean with goose barnacles attached…this bean is from a monkey ladder vine's bean pod, which is the largest bean pod in the world!

I was esp. excited to find my first hamburger sea bean! This is a brown hamburger bean, which can be from American tropics, the West Indies, or W. Africa. There is also a red hamburger bean ~ these beans contain an alkaloid called L-Dopa, used to treat the tremors from Parkinson's disease.

…I finally found another whole whelk! These are a lot harder to come by on the E coast of Florida than they are on the W. coast. This is a lightning whelk, approx. 4" long.

I found 3 royal starfish that day...

…I always find a small handful of scallops, and once in awhile I'll find one with barnacles on it…which I think gives them a nice added design...

At least half of the cockles I find, don't have the pretty contrast pattern they're noted for…esp. the larger cockles…but this one was nicely patterned...

…Besides the 4" whelk, I also found 2 very small whelks...

And one set of coquina shells with the radial rays, which are pretty scarce here…this pattern, that is. The coquina shells are very common, in shades of white, purple, and yellow. They're quite small, 1" max. Mostly smaller.

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!

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.