A Pen and a Jingle

I realize I haven't shared bird photos in a bit…mainly because I'm not taking my SLR camera to the beach with me…mainly because there isn't the right light…either it's dark or I'd have to be standing in the ocean and the bird would have to be W of me, cooperating…ha! And then there's the fact that it's heavy when carried on my back…we're having a very hot early summer and I'm hot and sweaty enough as it is, just carrying the backpack and a bottle of water…so for now I just have the pocket camera in my shorts pocket...

…I realized I hadn't actually shared this photo of a willet in summer breeding plumage, which I took about a month or so ago. The significance of this shot, is the fact that it's the first one I've taken of a willet that isn't in winter plumage. This is the first year in the three years I've been here, that I've spent any noteable time at a beach in May (through mid Oct.) due to the heat index. Did I mention, today the heat index was 108?! Yikes. And it's only mid June.

This week, when I landed on the beach just before sunrise, it was already "quite warm", ugh. But I trudged on, my first time trying an abbreviated version of my previous visits…a shorter visit, about two hours, instead of the 3 to 3.5 hours I'd mostly been spending….anywho, the sunrise continues to be deep orange…this one, I captured the peli patrol cruising by...

I found a whole penshell (bi-valve, empty), hadn't seen one in awhile…usually they're in pieces.

For some reason, we get a lot of black scallop shells…you can barely see the original white with red markings below the black. I've mentioned it before ~ the black is caused by the shell being buried in sediment for a long time.

This is a good-sized jingle shell, about 2", in gold.  :)

…I usually find at least one shark's eye shell each time I go to the beach…Thurs. I found four; this was the largest one…

A mottled purse crab, deceased…it's fairly common to find a few crab carcasses each beach visit, but seeing them always makes me a little sad...

Sunrise and Scallops

I've continued to stroll the beach at sunrise this past week, arriving a few minutes before the sun breaks above the horizon. Each sunrise I've witnessed, since starting my weekly beach-combing, has been unique and breath-taking. Getting up so early and driving for about 30 minutes would be worth it if I didn't find a single sea treasure on the shore, just to see the sunrises. Fortunately, most times there are nifty things to find as well…

…Other shellers don't seem to care for the curly partial whelk shells, but I think they have their own artistic beauty…

…I found a whole lightning whelk, it needs a good cleaning...

…I continue to find a few scallops on each sandy stroll...

…and cockles, which come in sizes very small to quite big…

…and white baby's ears, this one decorated with seaweed lace...

…I found my 2nd turtle carapace bone...

…this was actually 30 or more minutes after sunrise…a lone black-bellied plover, with non-breeding plumage, contemplates the liquid gold panorama.

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.

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.