Oh, what a beautiful day!

It sure didn't feel like March around here today...It was so warm walking on the beach that we were in our shirt sleeves....

Look at the blue sky, the calm sea, the light sand....ahhhhh....

These photos are from Corporation Beach, taken around lunch time today...

Just beautiful....

These are the days that get us through the other not so nice days, the days when the cold wind howls down under our collars and through our ears....

On a day like today one can only sigh and think......perfection!

Here's a quick little video of what it sounded and looked like walking along the water's edge today...especially for those of you who couldn't make it to the beach today....

A Rare Sighting....

Something very rare is happening on Cape Cod right now....



Spring! I hope you can get outside and enjoy it!

Stormy Days

The Nor'easter of the last few days has been very intense with strong winds and deluges of rain. Branches and trees are down everywhere but nowhere is the damage felt as strongly as along our beaches. Although the outer Cape beaches have probably felt the impact the strongest, many bay side and even south facing beaches have taken big hits as well.

On the outer Cape the erosion has been so severe that most of the stairs leading down to the beaches have been washed away and the dunes so undercut that no one is allowed down on the actual beaches. At high tide, there is no beach. Only what's left of the cliffs and the raging water...this first picture is from Marconi Beach in Wellfleet.
This second shot is from Nauset Light Beach, where the only stairs remaining are the top few that are still hanging on to the platform...
This view from Fort Hill doesn't look very threatening....until you realize there is no marsh and no barrier beach to be seen....all under water!!! Very shocking....
Here's foggy view of what is left of the barrier beach in the distance. You can see the water washing over it and over the marsh (or what used to be the marsh) behind it.
This white water was already past the dunes that used to be there at Coast Guard Beach and slamming against the bushes that are supposed to be upland, not wetland plants....
Storms have always caused upheavals and rearrangements of beach area on the Cape but in my lifetime this seems like one of the most severe ones. We will have to wait until the tides recede and the waves calm down to truly assess the damage....

Ruddy Turnstones

One of the first shorebirds I could identify for sure as a kid was a ruddy turnstone. They have very distinctive markings, are not very shy and if you watch them long enough they do exactly what their name suggests. They turn over stones to look for food.These guys were found at Dowse's Beach in Osterville this week. There were about a dozen mixed in with the local winter sanderlings. Turnstones don't generally winter here though they are seen sporadically. I don't know if these have been here all winter or if they are early arrivals on their way north. They are in winter plumage that is turning.
They have the most wonderful markings.
Here is one getting behind a stone or shell to turn it over.
What did it find? Mostly they are looking for invertebrates to eat such as worms, small crabs, etc.
In this picture above you can see the orange on the legs. Have you ever seen one of these birds?

Waiting for the snow....

These photos were taken a few days ago when it was sunny but very cold. We are waiting for snow to fall here on Cape Cod so I thought I'd just post these for fun. The first gull is a greater black backed gull.These gulls look black against the light but that's just because the sun is behind them, making them look like silhouettes.

These gulls were in the parking lot sitting out of the wind, at least the wind off the water. Most of these are ring billed gulls.Stay warm!

Horned Larks

Do you see the little birds in this photo? It was taken at the edge of the marsh next to some low dunes and you can see how well camouflaged they are, if you can see them at all....They moved into the sand area so you should be able to see them better now. There is one standing in the sand and one still in the grass.

These lovely little birds are horned larks. You can almost see the yellow on the face/chin area in the top picture but it really shows up in the picture below.
These birds are about the size of a sparrow and they have black feathers that stick up on the sides of their heads that look like horns, hence their names. Pretty cool, huh? You can often find horned larks in our sandy dune areas such as Sandy Neck and Coast Guard Beach. These birds were photographed at First Encounter Beach in Eastham where I almost always see them in fall and winter.

Winter Scenes

I drove to Provincetown today and these are some of the photos I took along the way. Cape Cod Bay has lots of ice. This shot is from First Encounter Beach in Eastham.Herring Cove Beach in Provincetown had a very brisk wind and these gulls were hunkered down in the sand to stay warm and out of the wind.
This view is overlooking Nauset Marsh from the Coast Guard station in Eastham.
Another view of Nauset Marsh showing the ice.
On the other end of Nauset Marsh, the view from Fort Hill in Eastham...
It was a cold and windy day but still beautiful here on Cape Cod. We saw very few other people out and about but lots of other cool things. I will post some of them as the week goes on.

Winter Seals on the Beach

We were out in Chatham the other day and decided to take a walk on South Beach. The air was clear, it was relatively windless and warm, for winter anyway. We saw something shiny in the distance. From the shape and position I suspected it was a seal....and it was!
Seals often haul out onto a beach in the winter. Most are perfectly healthy and all should be left alone, according to the Marine Mammal Protection Act. These pictures were taken with a zoom lens and although there are what appear to be close ups I was well within the distance of 150 yards mandated by the law.
Seals look cute but they are wild animals and will give a nasty bite if approached by humans or dogs. Most seals you will see on the winter beaches are perfectly healthy and fine and need no intervention by humans. If you see a seal that is obviously in distress or injured you should contact the Cape Cod Stranding Network. Do not try to help the animal yourself. You may reach the stranding network by calling 508-743-9548. This number is manned 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
I believe this seal was a harbor seal. It had the heart shaped nose, was the right size and color and looks like a snub nosed cocker spaniel from the side, all visual indicators of harbor seals. In the summer our predominant seals are the gray seals but in the winter we get quite a few harbor seals as well as other rarer visitors such as harp seals.
I love this shot because it looks like the seal is smiling and enjoying its day in the sun. Do seals smile? Scientists would probably frown upon the idea but for the rest of us....maybe they do. I know this seal made me smile....

Sand Paintings

There's something hypnotic about the way the wind and water sculpts the sand between tides....