Today on DK we have been unusually fortunate in a bevy of excellent nature diaries. As I was working on the next in my series on the history of evolutionary biology it seemed so dry in comparison. My heart wasn't in it.
So instead I'll take you on a little tour of the beach. But not just any beach, the beach in the wilderness preserve at St. Joseph Peninsula State Park on the coast of the Florida panhandle.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/beach2.jpg)
Aside from being astounding beautiful it is where I learned to love beaches.
I haven't always been a beach person. I've always had a fondness for rocky shores, the granite rising out of the still clear water of a Canadian Shield lake or the weathered rocky headlands and tide pools of the Pacific northwest. The beaches I knew growing up seemed sterile and boring.
My first visit to Florida was just about exactly five years ago. My wife had come down on a job interview which conveniently happened to occur at the end of the week before our spring break. I joined her Friday evening and with the advice of our friends in the area spent a wonderful five days seeing the natural wonders of the eastern Panhandle. Among them was the St. Joseph Peninsula which was a revelation. Never had I seen a beach that was that beautiful and that unspoiled. A few days ago we visited it again.
As nice as all that sand and sky and water may look there is a myriad of tiny worlds out there if you look closely.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/sanderlingbig.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/sanderlingsmall.jpg)
Sanderlings like to chill out on the beach as much as anyone.
Other beach birds also blend into the background.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/snowy.jpg)
Snowy Plover
While a splash of color in a beige world make others stand out.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/oysters.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/oysterwillet.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/oystersurf.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/osyterclose.jpg)
American Oystercatchers and Willet
One of the most striking things about the beach is its impermanence. The water and the wind are constantly reshaping the physical environment. This brings food and nutrients to an otherwise barren environment but it also means that these creatures live in a world with few landmarks. Nothing stays in place for long or remains untransformed.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/smashshell.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/stick.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/triangle.jpg)
What this was I have no idea.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/pinecone.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/skeleton.jpg)
This is the skeleton of the torso of a bird (tail is on the left, breast bone on the right). We also saw the relatively fresh carcass of a horned grebe. Without feet, head, beak, or feathers it is pretty difficult to tell what bird this was when alive.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/hole.jpg)
This is probably a ghost crab hole although no crabs were in evidence. The hole was collapsing slowly.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/holeclose.jpg)
The surf was modest that day. It was quite windy but the wind was coming from over the land. The wind was definitely a force to be dealt with.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/plovers.jpg)
Black-bellied Plovers (they have black bellies in the summer - honest).
Further up the beach, the dunes are not free of the forces of air and water.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/seagrass.jpg)
It may look peaceful above and the vegetation does provide an anchor. But the dunes are as dynamic as the beach, just on a somewhat longer time scale.
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/blowout.jpg)
![](http://i305.photobucket.com/albums/nn214/matchingmole/dunecrest.jpg)
The ephemeral and stark nature of the beach can be a lesson to us if we let it. Human civilization has flourished in a period of relatively stable and benign climate. Our world is changing, much more slowly than the beach, but much more rapidly than our experience teaches us as normal. The waves are washing ever higher.