The beach often seems an uninviting locale for the naturalist. There is little or no vegetation. There are often dead things washed up from the sea. It can seem barren and if not lifeless, certainly not teaming with life.
The beach is an area of high disturbance and low nutrients. Not that many species live there compared to an estuary or a forest. But it has a simplicity that makes observation pleasingly straightforward. There are no illusions on the sand - everything is out in the open
All of these pictures were taken this week at Cape Canaveral National Seashore or nearby locations on the Space Coast of central Florida.
Let's start by casting our eyes far out to sea
Offshore a hundred yards or so you can see Northern Gannets plunging into the water for fish. They are northern relatives of the boobies illustrated in Haole in Hawaii's diaries. In a few weeks the adults will be returning to colonies in the north Atlantic to breed. Below is the best I could do with my equipment.
A lot easier to photograph are the birds entering the surf to look for food washed ashore.
Willet
Black-bellied Plover (they have black bellies in breeding season)
Ruddy Turnstones
Other birds just use the beach as a place to rest
Laughing Gull
Royal Tern
Because everything is out in the open, interactions between species are frequent, especially when potential food has been spotted.
This willet saw the sanderling display interest in this jellyfish and had to check it out. Turns out neither were interested.
A different willet on a different beach. It has found a crab claw and was trying to find a quiet place to check it out for food.
The ruddy turnstones do a lot of flipping and probing - notice that it's eyes are shut, presumably to keep out sand. This sort of behavior can attract unwanted attention.
And conflicts over whatever has been found.
Although they blow over pretty quickly.
And I'll give the final thousand words to a visitor to the beach, also looking for gifts from the sea.