Blending in

 

 

During an afternoon walk in Humarock, MA, we came across a large flock (>100) of Snow Buntings (Plectrophenax nivalis).  We saw them in different settings — resting among cobbles, feeding in the wrack line, flying over the salt marsh.  I'm still sorting through photos, but here are some my favorites so far:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Long shadows

  

The amazingly long shadows of December -- photographed in the late afternoon in Humarock, MA, on 13 December 2021.

Where the rivers meet the sea

A few highlights from a short walk in Humarock, MA, this afternoon (26 December 2019), close to where the South River and North River meet.  This is my old stomping grounds (where I grew up), so there were some familiar friends, but some new ones, too!  

In order of appearance:

 

Northern Harrier (Circus hudsonius) hunting over the dunes at Fourth Cliff

 

Harbor Seal (Phoca vitulina) resting on a floating dock

 

 

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) perched on a tree on Trouants Island in Marshfield, MA.  I spent many years here and never saw an eagle, so it was fun to be surprised by one today!  (My mom mentioned there is now a pair nesting along the North River.)

 

Ripples in birch bark 

 

Ripples in sand

Coastal scenes

A few more coastal scenes from our visit to Cape Cod and the South Shore of Massachusetts:

From Chatham:

 

 

From Provincetown (including wild cranberries):

 

 

From Humarock:

 

Underwater scene

 

I couldn't walk by this frost pattern without taking a few pictures.  

The frost had formed on the inside of a large glass fishing float.  The patterns reminded me of an underwater scene with kelp fronds waving in an aquamarine sea.  Two more close-ups:

 

 

Photographed in Humarock, MA, on 26 December 2018.  

The mouth of the river

 

The mouth of the North River, with Fourth Cliff (in Humarock, MA) out of view to the right.  Photographed 29 April 2016.

Bites not bytes

Strong northeast winds (15-25 knots) continued in Massachusetts today.  Although it was blustery, I had about an hour to spare (to avoid busy traffic), so I decided to go for a short walk on Humarock Beach where I grew up.  

Here's a view looking out to sea: 

 

My first memories of tidepooling come from here.  Before heading out to explore, my mother always reminded us to beware of "barnacle bites."  The rocks are slippery, and a fall would often result in scrapes from barnacles.  (Decades later, I still hear her warning in my head.)

Today I wandered out and found a few old friends:

 

Acorn barnacles (Semibalanus balanoides)

 

Dog whelks (Nucella lapillus) and periwinkles (Littorina littorea)

 

Forbes' Sea Star (Asterias forbesi) 

Around the corner from this rocky point, there's a stretch of sand and cobble.  It's mostly cobble at this time of year, but the strong winds were blowing light sand across the stones.

 

Some low intertidal sand was exposed.  We used to find sand dollars here, so I started looking and was happy to spot one nice example:

 

Common Sand Dollar (Echinarachnius parma) 

I made my way back between a low sand dune and a salt marsh, remembering all of the time spent exploring these habitats with family and friends.

Recently, I've been thinking about how times have changed — how many people now spend more time with electronic devices than they do outdoors.  While walking the beach in the storm this morning and reflecting on my childhood, I felt very grateful that I grew up thinking more about "barnacle bites" than "megabytes."