This evening there was an unusually high tide, as well as a storm. This was the remains of the storm that killed people in Mississippi. We headed out to the beach to see what was happening. An hour before high tide the waves were already over the top and filling the tracks of the giant earth movers being used to reconstruct the beach. After the lightening and hail quit I couldn't stay away. I didn't notice it while I was there, but there were still remnants of hail on the beach (little white specks).
On the way back we noticed that the Wildlife Loop was open for traffic until dusk, so we took a turn. A different set of birds were out. Among them was this gorgeous creature, a cattle egret.
We also noticed the male cones looking a little bedraggled after dumping their pollen loads. They used to stick up straight. Now they kind of droop down. No snide comments from the women, please!
This is the result of dumping. Every puddle around has yellow pollen around its edges.
A little farther around the loop we saw these pointy-nose look-down birds, unusually at rest. Normally we see them kind of hovering against the wind, looking for fish to dive at. They are really common terns, I am told.
As we got closer to home we saw half the street overrun by the tide.
A pair of cardinals was on the lawn. I could only capture the male.
We checked on the resident killdeer, sitting eggs in the "grass". This poor thing had just sat through the rain and hail. She looked OK, though. Our resident bird census taker put in a pair of stakes to remind people to stay away.
I find I have enjoyed being here long enough to see the changes brought by the seasons, and the different animals that are around.
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