Hi!
The only treasure on the beach this day was ephemeral---no shells, no sand dollars, no seaglass. Only the gift of a perfectly beautiful early summer day. These photos were taken last week, on the first day I was out without a coat since November. Six months or more and now: freedom.
Yes we've gone from puffer parkas to flip flops in just a couple of days. I suddenly recalled that I need a new beach chair. I saw one in the village sundries shop in April, nice and cheap and lightweight, but I couldn't bring myself to buy a beach chair while wearing a down coat and snow pants. Silly girl, I need it right now.
This was a very low tide afternoon. The beach is still pleasantly empty of people.
The oystercatchers finally chose a nesting spot safely high above the normal tide line. This couple builds here every year. The eggs are always laid during the first week of May. click to enlarge
Here are her two speckled eggs the size of small hens eggs. The OCs don't continuously sit on the nest so I was able to get a photo from far away. (The sand is hot enough, on a sunny day, that the birds can leave their eggs and they'll stay warm and cozy in the sunshine.)
So far there is only one plover nest, marked by the large cage they are given.
There are a number of piping plovers running about, however, so maybe more will nest soon. Piping plovers are so tiny and so well camouflaged that you can't really spot them. I locate them by their fast scurrying across the shoreline..There's a piper in this photo, do you see him?
Me either! But here he is a bit above center, at the right edge of the small horizontal line. The little guys are very fast so it's blurry.
There were more pipers along the the edge of the gentle waves. They are about the size of sparrows but chubby, with tiny black beaks and toothpick legs and black neck ring. The rest of them is the colors of sand---tan, white, grey, nothing.
A beautiful day. And more to come.
love
lizzy
gone to the beach
Oh but wait! Look who else is here.
I can't believe they gave it a name. And here is her map---I remember when she was in [off?] Cape Cod last year:
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What a lovely day! I love how you enjoy and embrace every season where you are! I'd love to come and visit you some time. :)
ReplyDeletePS The twitter link is not working.
I ll fix the link. thx.
DeleteYes, I try to enjoy every day. Ya never know.
I ll fix the link. thx.
DeleteYes, I try to enjoy every day. Ya never know.
LOL about the shark and it's having a Twitter account! I guess one of the researchers named it after his mom....if it was ME I'd be mad about that!
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures of the beach. Look at all that sand! Nice that you got closer pictures of the eggs, too. All this time I didn't realize the piping plovers were what I thought were called sandpipers! Here we have killdeer, which have similar markings and do the same 'run fast then stop suddenly' thing and they also nest on the ground in gravely areas. Funny that a shore bird and a land bird are so much alike!
Thanks for sharing your walk!
No, sandpipers are different, plovers arent sandpipers, tho they all are the shorebirds generically called peeps. The big flocks of birds in the photos are sanderlings and yes, they are sandpipers.
ReplyDeleteKildeers and plovers are closely related. Kildeer are larger. We get kildeers in the fall. They have the two neckrings and are browner.
Mary Lee the Shark! Hahaha. Gotta watch my toes. She s huge, 14 feet, like two cars in lenghth.
No, sandpipers are different, plovers arent sandpipers, tho they all are the shorebirds generically called peeps. The big flocks of birds in the photos are sanderlings and yes, they are sandpipers.
ReplyDeleteKildeers and plovers are closely related. Kildeer are larger. We get kildeers in the fall. They have the two neckrings and are browner.
Mary Lee the Shark! Hahaha. Gotta watch my toes. She s huge, 14 feet, like two cars in lenghth.