Walking the Beach #26 (Apr 07)

A perfectly clear day with eight oyster boats in their usual location. The air is calm and water is barely washing ashore at half tide. Enough breeze exists, however, to dapple the water, the dapples changing with shifts in wind direction.

Three guys are now working on the fancy pier roof job. They could be done by tomorrow or no more than a third day from the looks of the progress being made.

Not a contrail in sight today during the entire walk. Sounds from fighter jets and one prop job occur, but nothing visible to see. On the way back a lone helicopter appears up river near the reserve fleet for a few minutes then disappears.

The lone Great Blue Heron around the promontory is spooked again and squawks as he flys off. I sometimes call them gray herons. It looks like both terms are used, although the formal and proper name is Great Blue Heron.

A mother eagle and one kid are in the same area. Mom was on the shore when we came around the promontory. She flew up to the tree where the kid was and both took off from there to somewhere inland.

Two of the common terns fly by.  Their distinctive split tails make identificatione easy.  Perched out in the water on a piece of driftwood is a cormorant with wings spread for drying. 

A few pockets of pollen were in the water along the shore before the promontory, but after the promontory there was a foot-wide ribbon of a couple hundred yards, so the pollen problem is still pretty bad. Ground up leaves and other vegetation that looks like tea leaves is found along the shore, too. The beach along the pollen stretch is marked with a series of lines from the high tide mark to the water line made from the river tea leaves as the retreating tide surges from gusts of wind. The result looks like growth rings. The same marks are present without the tea leaves in other areas, but not as apparent.

Two types of fossilized coral appear here, too. One looks like natural sponge and is about the same color. The other looks like draped fabric that’s petrified. When parts wear away pockets are exposed that are big enough to stick a finger inside. The color is the same as the sponge type. It may be they are the same and the sponge is left after enough of the draped part erodes away. The sponge type is more prevalent, but both seem to be limited to a small area in this less populated area.

We are almost ready to leave the beach and discover a few bare foot prints in the dry sand well back from the high tide mark. These look to be big enough for an adult; another adventurous person. —-

 

Walking the Beach #25 (Apr 07)

 We had an inch of rain overnight and it cleared the air this morning. It’s in the fifty’s and damp with no breeze. A tornado watch is in effect for another hour, but the overcast is breaking up as predicted, so any tornadoes are outside our neighborhood.

The tide is on the high side, but not so as to be an obstacle. Wave action is very lazy, slowly sloshing ashore ahead of us, then behind and adjacent as we walk. The water still has a slight dappled appearance, that hammered silver look, but without the sun shining.

We spot a young gray heron just as we reach the beach. It’s most tolerant of our approach and doesn’t fly off until we are within fifty feet and then just a short ways off. Another shows up around the big promontory and is more skittish about our presence.

Several young eagles are cruising the sky. We spook a third one from the top of a tall tree also past the big promontory. Two kingfishers are back in the same area and leapfrog over us going and coming.

Someone is working on the fancy pier when we return. It looks like preparation is being made to put a roof over the newly erected second boat lift. The extension ladder on the low damaged pier walkway hasn’t been moved since it appeared a few days ago. The fancy pier wins the prize again for the most activity.

The pull up tree is damp and easier to grasp while exercising. I manage six pretty good repetitions, the max so far.

The rain helped further blur the many prints in the dray areas of the beach, but little else. The wind that blew all day yesterday failed to blow any interesting debris ashore.

Two seagull type birds, I later heard are common terns, perform a midair squabble for a few minutes over the water when Izzy and I are most of the way back. Seabirds around here don’t generally fight. These have a peculiar split tail that looks like one end of a skate egg case (sorry, but they do and you’ll just have to Google the egg cases or look up the common tern).

No oyster boats a all today despite the calm weather. No contrails, either, but cloud cover blocks any that may exist. Two layers of clouds are shifting about. A lower, fast moving layer is dark without back lighting, while the upper layer appears fluffy and white with blue patches between.

The air is very clear due to the rain. However, at one place a collection of pollen is visible in the water along the water line. —-