Breakfast at Horseneck

Gorgeous morning for our beach walk - temperature just above freezing, but no wind and as Bren notes, that makes all the difference. The bright sunshine helped. I mentioned the spider crab and the gull the other day. At this point there doesn't seem to be a huge number of crabs, but in about a quarter mile of beach we saw about half a dozen "breakfast tables" like the one in the photograph. We also saw this handsome herring gull feasting on one, then taking off when he thought we were getting too close and wanted to share!

No sign of the brants this morning - perhaps they were here for just a day or two on migration - but we did see a lone common tern, first this year, looking small and a bit bewildered as he wandered among the larger gulls huddled on a shrinking sandbar (the tide was coming in) near the harbor mouth.







We also saw a small flock (perhaps 30) of sanderlings and wondered when they would begin their feasting on mole crabs. We also wonder if there's a connection between the mole crab feeding period and when these guys head north for the arctic. It would make sense that they fatten up on something first for such along flight.

Finally, I began what I hope will be a series of pictures documenting the shifting of the sands. Not sure just how to go about this, but I started with one feature - a rock and pool on the beach - that seems to change with some regularity in terms of size, depth, and how the water escapes from the pool to the ocean.

Posted by Greg Stone at April 25, 2003 04:08 PM