Nothing Like a Beach

A stormy day on the beach at Spanish River Park, Boca Raton, Florida.
This part of Floirda is called the Gold Coast because the sand takes on a golden hue
from shell fragments mixed with the white quartz sand. 

There is nothing like a beach.  The infinite horizon, the ever changing light, the sound and even the smell make beaches irresistible.  About 40% of the US population lives near the coast.  But, even at a beach lined with high-rise hotels, if you turn you back on the buildings there is a wet wilderness running to the vanishing point.  This interface between land and ocean is harsh.  Abundant water, salt and light mean unique plants and animals are found on beaches.  Some are sea creatures that wash up.  Some are denizens of the land that occupy the last real estate before the ocean.  Others are highly adapted to living on this demanding edge of the continent.  

I grew up in South Florida, a mile and a half from the Atlantic.  The beach was part of the fabric of my life. Now I live hours from the nearest beach and it is always special when I get to a beach. This blog will examine some beaches and the creatures on them.  

Florida

Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) on Lake Worth Beach, Florida.
This large gull winters in the Southeastern United States where its
numbers are increasing. 

Royal Tern (Thalasseus maximus) on Lake Worth Beach, Florida. 
Royal Terns are year-round residents from North Carolina to the tropics.

Sandwich Tern (Thalasseus sandvicensis) at Spanish River Park, Boca Raton, Florida.
This tern is smaller than the nearby Royal Terns.  It has characterisitc yellow tip on
its beak, as if the bird dipped its bill in mustard.  

Two White Ibis (Eudocimus albus) feeding in the surf at Canaveral National Seashore,
Florida. These waders are found in fresh, barckish and salt water.

Portugese Man-o-War (Physalia physalis) at Boynton Beach Park, Florida.
This relative of corals and jellyfish is the bane of swimmers. 
It has an irredescent blue float and trails tentacles in the water
that bear stinging cells.  A person unlucky enough to
brush against a tentacle will receive a painful sting.

South Carolina

Sunset at Surfside Beach, South Carolina. The sand on the South Carolina
beaches is gray and made of sand washed into the Atlantic
from rivers. 

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) on Surfside Beach, South Carolina.
This is the most common gull in the Southeast.  

Sanderlings (Calidris alba) in the sunrise surf at Huntington Beach State Park,
South Carolina. Sanderlings are small, gray and white shorebirds that run up and down the 
beach like a windup toy, following the breaking waves.  The name Sanderling comes from
Old English and means "sand plower".  And they do plow the sand, looking for 
 the small animals they eat. 

A dead Common Loon (Gavia immer) washed up on the sand at Huntington Beach
State Park, South Carolina.

Ghost Crab (Ocypode quadrata) at Huntington Beach State Park,
South Carolina.  These crabs are sand-colored and make burrows 
on the beach above the high tide line.  They usally feed at night but
this one was out on a cloudy day.  The genus name, Ocypode, means
swift footed and so they are.  

This may look like an aerial view of the Sahara Desert but these
dunes are only two inches tall.  Huntington Beach State Park,
South Carolina. 

West Coast

The rocky shoreline of the Monterey Pennisula, California. 

Bull Kelp (Nereocystis luetkeana.) on a sandy beach, Monterey Pennisula,
California.  These giant Brown Algae may reach 100 feet in length.
Kelps make extensive forests in the Pacific off California.  The round
structure is a float the alga fills with gas including carbon monoxide. 
The float keeps the kelp near the surface so it can carry out photosynthesis. 

 

Cannon Beach, Oregon has a sandy beach with sea stacks, large
rocks produced by coastal erosion. This location was used in the great
kid's adventure movie, The Goonies.

The most amazing thing I have ever seen on a beach was a Walrus
(Odobenus rosmarus).  This giant marine mammal was hauled out on the shore of
the Bering Sea, south of Nome, Alaska.  Walruses use their tusks to open breathing
 holes in sea ice and pull themselves up onto ice floes. 

Hawaii

The Hawaiian islands are ringed by beautiful beaches. 
I think the most spectacular are the black sand beaches. 
They are made of eroded sand and stones from lava. 
This black sand beach was at Punalu'u County Beach Park
on the Big Island. 

A Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas) sunning on a black beach.
Punalu'u County Beach Park, Hawaii. 

Black sand beach backed by Coconut Palms (Cocos nucifera).
Punalu'u County Beach Park, Hawaii. 

When I was a kid going to the beach with my family, we would swim and snorkle, body surf and beach comb.  Now, I am not swimming or body surfing or snorkeling as much.  But I still like to walk the beach, looking at the water and seaweed and all the animals at the end of the land.