Friday, July 29, 2011

Beach Life Report

We're back from a quick two-day turn at our local beach of choice (Wrightsville Beach, near Wilmington) and while patiently enduring the relentless heat---even low 90s on the water's edge!--kept my eye on the beach life. Of the bird kind. The rest is...for the birds. As always the most conspicuous lifeforms are these Laughing Gulls. I saw all four molt forms and they definitely lived up to their name with a weird, cackling call. Brown Pelicans were reasonably abundant, especially near sunset. They amazed with their fishing skills: divebombing from 20 or 30 feet up! As for the odds and ends: two Black Skimmers, Common Grackles, Northern Mockingbirds, and one Willet. Not a bad haul with all of the people around. But I would have liked a few more of the real wildlife!

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