Ocean City Beach

I ventured further up the coast a couple of miles pulling out at Ocean City just for some place different than my usual rotation. 

From a distance, I saw this large group of birds that drew my attention - there must've been at least a hundred of them all together. It looks like we have a few black-bellied plover, some who still may have their winter plumage, and what I think are Western sandpipers, or maybe Rock sandpipers...

Personally, I think it's very hard to tell some of these birds apart when they change color according to the season and all hang out together.  They look so funny all standing on one leg, like little puffballs on sticks from a distance.

These gulls looked enormous after seeing the others. Again, I can never be sure what kind of gull I'm seeing as they seem to change color depending on their age.

This part of the coast was littered with literally hundreds of thousands if not millions of those velellas I saw further south earlier in the week. The provide food for the birds if nothing else. The smell of decay was pretty strong back from the current.

This one was much larger than any I had seen, measuring about 4 inches, the others I'd seen being around 2 inches or so - here they varied in size from this large one to many only a half inch or less. As you can see, I think they're really interesting!

Canal Stroll

It began as a very wet day

Grand Canal residents - they were especially bold and came within about three feet of me as I headed to the trail

One end of the Grand Canal - that's the hardware store roof way in the back

Seeds caught my interest

These two trilled across the trail to each other as I snapped - wrens maybe?

An American Coot

Another Beach Walk...

After a day of puttering around home, doing mundane things like laundry and yard work, I headed to the Audobon trail near Damon Point for an evening stroll. I walked toward the North Jetty end going further than normal and came across a winding river. Lovely.

Heading back, I caught this guy in a funny pose with his empty clam shell behind him.

The common loon was bobbing in the water too far enough out that I had to use my zoom to see what he was.

A few treasures

Half Way

 Today, I'm half way through Spring Break with another few days to spend in my happy place. The day started with one of the many mallards hanging out across the canal and some cheerful but tiny flowers growing from of a moss clump outside my slider door.

I then headed for Centralia on a mini-day trip to do some shopping at the outlet stores, passing through thriving Oakville on the way (there's more to the town than just this building, but not much). As an aside, whenever I see something old like this 1890 store front, I realize how young it is in light of the ancient places my besties are frequenting in Greece.

I got back home in time for a walk on the beach to catch the sunset and found this guy playing around in the water. He was friendly, and after a few unsuccessful attempts to ride the waves, he gave up.

Of course I caught a splashy pic!

And a spectacular cloud display as the sun lowered on the horizon.

"The heavens declare the greatness of G-d"

An Attempt at Relaxing

Today found me with the goal of filling the day with relaxation and purpose. I poked around online for awhile, then got myself out of the apartment to find some fresh air and shopping. At the North Jetty, this flock of sanderlings kept running away from and back towards the waves - it was pretty entertaining! The wind was cold and biting and the sand too soft for my liking, so I headed towards town and walked out along the main thoroughfare to the beach entrance there. After picking up a few items at the local grocery and hardware stores, and some freshly ground coffee from my new favorite coffee place, Ocean Beach Roasters, I headed home. Here's my favorite shots of the day:

wild strawberries

These velellas fascinate me!

My favorite shot of the day - he's protecting his velella snack.

The clouds were awesome this evening! See that tiny dot of light? I think it's a planet!

At Home at the Beach

As it's Spring Break this week, I'm spending the majority of it relaxing at the beach. First on the agenda was having new carpet installed (see pics on Facebook). I am so pleased with it!  Once they finished, I had some company as I was putting my apartment back together:

Looks like this young lady is losing her winter coat.

A little later, I noticed she had migrated to the front to see what was growing there:

She brought her mom and a sister along this time - mom was checking my car out for a bit before deciding it wasn't edible.

Apparently, there was a whole contingent checking out our yard!

They wandered across the street to where a new house is being built poking around the framework. The young ones were playing in the large sand pile off to the left out of camera vision.

I also noticed that the neighbors have a cool, new windmill!

Finally, after the apartment was all back in order, I made it to the beach for an evening walk and found these velella creatures. Here's more about them!

There are hundreds of these scattered along the beach this week!

I joined some locals for a brief photo shoot, then headed home to enjoy my new carpet!