It was just light enough to see, as we walked out to the beach. There was a nice, strong, cool breeze. Very pleasant.
It's a very exciting nesting season so far. We now have nests from three different species of sea turtle on the Islands, which is very rare!
I started the morning out wondering what we might find. Hopefully another nest. :)
That's yours truly dragging along.
Beach golf?
There weren't many shells on the beach, but I did pick up this rare red plastic one.
What is left of a dead sea turtle. :(
Most areas on the beach, this morning, had shell crumbs instead of shells.
Funny how there always seems to be a mermaid lurking around.
Must have been some pretty hard work going on here.
Already a piece of a firework.
Me picking up trash. That's not the Sanibel Stoop.
Did they intend to put de lime in de coconut .....
Was this meant to stir it all up?
This osprey has a bird's eye view of the sunrise.
It wasn't screeching at anyone today.
There were several small plastic beads, like this red one. We find them all the time, from broken fishing lures.
Part of a soft, white, silicone fishing lure.
The hole at the bottom of this pyramid is where the Pharaoh crab lives.
Amazing, another turtle crawl!!!
And a nest that is located right behind what's left of a sandcastle that the turtle must have knocked down with it's flippers while digging.
There is another sandcastle right in front too, which is where we stuck the flag marker.
When we looked into the top of that castle, we saw a ghost crab run back underground. Pretty smart crab, he made a hole in the bottom of the castle.
He even has a road that goes into the lower level. He actually uses that, because we saw his tracks. :)
How many crabs do you know that live in a castle?
We left a little good morning note for our Permittee, who was on his way to mark this nest. :)
There is a pretty large hole in this area and that made me think about the news SCCF's Amanda Bryant sent out this week.
What a great idea!
I have heard of crop circles before, but never sand circles. :)
More plastic....
Hmmm, I think some birds are looking for mischief to get into.
This little boy caught a small fish and after holding it up, long enough for his Mom to take a picture, he was taking it back to the water when it started wiggling and it jumped out of his hands. He was so cute, as he tried to be careful not to hurt the fish.
Stairway to the Gulf.
Another abandoned shell net.
The nests are getting a little close together in places. :)
BIG bug!
We picked up 2 bags packed full of trash, including lots of plastic and paper, but this is the worst, even worse than pampers. Ugh....now you know why I wear a rubber glove on one hand. :(
If you've ever watched shorebirds, you've noticed how they stand around on one leg much of the time. This one appeared to be doing that, but when we got closer we could actually see where the other leg should be and it just wasn't there.
Poor thing only has one leg. We saw it fly over our heads and make a perfect landing near a fisherman. I have to confess, even knowing we are not supposed to feed the birds....and I'm one who gets angry at people for doing it....If I were a fisherman, I might have to let a fish drop, so this poor bird could get it.
I had to look back again and saw the bird trying to get down a slight drop off in the sand, it slid and almost fell down. :( But, it made it.
Straws, straws, straws!
Sometimes you feel like a nut.....
sometimes you don't!
We have friends who might want to use floaters when playing The Dunes golf course. :)
