Last night’s rain sleeps in this morning resting on a lily pad.
Baby Painted Turtle pictures this
Gentle presence in the wild
Wide awake
A Brief Summary:
I walked beside and inside a marsh today.
I happened upon a female Snapping Turtle.
Ever so slowly she dug into the mud, excavating her deep nest.
Buried and hopefully hidden safely in the soft “digs” could be a clutch of 20-40 eggs.
The turtle plodded back into the murky, aquatic habitat.
Expected to arrive in about 90 days, her hatchlings are left to fend for themselves.
And there are predators like snakes, raccoons, and crows-even this morning I notice curled pieces of delicate turtle egg shell debris.
Horseshoe Crabs are really spiders-arachnids of the sea.
The ancient species has been around for years- something like 400million.
A living fossil- even a “live museum” exhibiting and supporting an array of organisms such as barnacles, algae, and Slipper snails.
I have read that the Horseshoe Crab is uniquely equipped with a “sword-tail” detecting light, and that this spider has nine eyes!
But these weeks they only have eyes for each other as they crawl and scoot to shallow waters for breeding season.
Tomorrow night’s full moon may be very inviting-as the animals are guided toward each other with the help of lunar and high tidal cycles
Like today, East Harbor may be the place to take a quick peek.
Then there is the Spider crab which actually IS a crab not a spider, but sat down beside me anyway…..
There are no pruning shears on South Beach road, no whacking of these weeds.
Just Sun’s translucent evening rays catch wind of nearby seas.
Simplicity is the petal.
The blossom taking bloom,
An Island ever taking time and making more
radiant room.
Although still in recovery, Chocomount is indeed making a “sunning” comeback!
I foresee a beach towel or two lined up side by side upon softer sands these next months.
Having documented the erosive effects of both hurricane tidal surge and wintery blasts this year, yesterday’s view looked promising compared to January and even April.
This time of year Silver Eel Pond is still quiet between scheduled ferryboats.
I noticed though, that nesting birds in the harbor are anything but -between their scheduled feedings.
It was lunchtime when I spied a Blackbird flutter above a dock piling and then completely disappear out of sight.
Four of Twenty Blackbirds tucked in a piling!
The intertidal zone along the coast of Race Point displays the three primary “kingdoms” of seaweeds.
Simply distinguished by color; the red, green, and brown algae washed ashore forming a terrace or berm that was knee-high.
Possibly the changing weather patterns and temperatures caused a bit of stir creating this sea salad mix of Kelps, Wracks,(brown ) Dulse, Carrageen Moss,(red ) and sea lettuce (green ).
The Atlantic Slipper snail or Slipper limpet is abundant in both West and East Harbors.
Very often I see them growing attached to docks, a Horseshoe crab’s shell,
Lobster pots –even an old washed up bottle.
This snail species lives a very sedentary life cycle, staying put- literally.
The Oldest, larger female animals form the base of a shell stack supporting multiple “pairs of slippers” assembling on top. I’ve read that larger male slipper snails will in fact “become” female should females die off- filling her slippers so to speak.
Rather than graze on sea algae, the slipper snail filters tiny marine organisms.
Just like the oyster, it is a filter feeder.
This can pose a threat to populating oysters by stacking up on (and against) them, competing for nutrient foods and starving them out.
That’s what the Island’s feathered residents are crowing about this morning…
A Brant Goose samples tasty sea lettuce in the Sound.
A Mute Swan provides a down comforter for future signets up east.
A Fish Crow tucked in twigs enjoys a room with a view.
Even a Turkey Vulture was all abuzzard…
Red bud
Red wing
Bent reed
Take Heed
“Oak-a lee, oak-a-lee”
Fly
Sing