Don't Leave Food Laying Around At The Beach!

Seagulls.  Rats with wings.  One of the beaches most hated creatures.  Beach goers are constantly complaining, shooing them away, hope they don't get shit on as the seagulls fly overhead.  But I don't hate the gulls.  I think they are beautiful.  To me, sea gulls signify the beach which is my favorite place in the whole world.

The gulls are pretty damn clever too.  They fly around and scope out the blankets, waiting for the opportune moment to grab a snack.  Last year a group of people were laying on the beach fairly close to us and one of the guys fell asleep with his mouth open.  His buddy thought it would be fun to put a tortilla chip in his mouth.  Within less than a minute, a huge seagull swooped down and took the chip out of the sleeping man's mouth, waking him up with a start. I'm not sure if he is still friends with his buddy!  

This year, a group of 4 were swimming and left two bags of chips on their blanket.  One seagull came over and began trying to get at the Doritos.  A few of us nearby chased it away.  It didn't work.  He came back with several of his friends and soon there was a flock of seagulls attacking the bag of Doritos.  One got daring and grabbed a sandwich wrapped in aluminum foil.  I was amazed to see how quickly and deftly he got it open and devoured the sandwich.  It just goes to show, don't leave open food lying on the beach.  Packaged or wrapped food isn't safe from these birds if it's just sitting out on a blanket.  One even came and swiped a piece of sandwich from a woman's hand while she was holding it, but looking away, talking to her friend!  These gulls really have a knack for finding food!

Don't shit on me!

Boys Will Be Boys

Salty Brine State Beach, Galilee to us older Rhode Islanders, is one of my favorite spots.  It boasts a beautiful beach and a cove to watch the boats come in and out, with many shops and restaurants within walking distance.  While the kids play in the water, I like watching the boats going in and out by the rocks.  

The fishing charters go out every few hours and you can tell how successful the trip was by the amount of seagulls flying behind it.  The staff cleans the fish for the men while they are coming back into shore with the gulls trying to get a bite of some of the waste.  Occasionally, however, a boat will come in, beeping its horn, guys hollering and yelling while one holds up his big catch of the day.  The guy is usually wearing a shit-eating grin, showing off his prize to us beachbums.  Everyone on the beach cheers and claps their hands as the boat heads to its dock. 

I guess boys will be boys no matter how young or how old!

And this lady is loving it too!!

  

Gone to the Beach

My sons, daughter and I have been at the beach for the past week and a half.  This is the fourth year that I've rented a beach house for a month.  I grew up always wishing to live at the beach during the summers, from when school got out in June until Labor Day, but my parents never even took me to the beach.  As my 50th birthday approached, I told my husband I wanted to rent a house for a month.  He sarcastically retorted "yeah right".  I heard the 'yeah' and went with it.  We almost divorced that year.

After he saw how much the boys enjoyed it, he told me to rent the house again the following year, so it's now become a yearly event.  He hardly comes down during our month, which I have to admit is a nice break for me!

He will call and ask, "what did you do today".  And it's always the same answer.  "We went to the beach, came back to the house, showered and had dinner."    

Well, what else are you supposed to do when you're at the beach?

Hope you are all enjoying your summer!

Snapping Turtles

This was not meant to be a nature blog, but for the past couple of weeks I have gotten close to several of the different species of wildlife on the Blackstone Bikeway on my bike rides.  I have been riding this bike path for three years now and while I occasionally would see river turtles, for the first time this morning, I saw a snapping turtle.  Actually, it was more like 8.  They were littered along the path, very close to fences and the paved path.  The mama turtles were laying their eggs.  

I couldn't get over how many there were when I had never seen them before, but then it hit me.  Today was the earliest I had began my ride.  In trying to beat the forecasted rain, I started my ride an hour and a half earlier than normal.  On the way back, the time I would have usually started, the turtles had already laid their eggs and were gone.

It was interesting to watch them scoop out a hole in the dirt.  While I didn't see any eggs, one of the turtles was loudly grunting as she was trying to lay her eggs.  While on land, these turtles are reputed to be belligerent, but the ones I saw seemed pretty calm, probably because they were busy with the task at hand.  On the return trek of my ride, I ran into one crossing the bike path to head back to the river.  

In 9 -18 weeks, whatever eggs haven't been eaten by skunks, squirrels or other predators will hatch.  I will have to keep an eye out for these baby turtles in late summer.  

Elegant Swans

On my bike rides, I usually see two pair of swans.  They usually are not very close to the path, but in the past week or so, I've been fortunate to get some pretty nice photos.  Enjoy.

Mother Goose, Dad and the Goslings

Everything to do with spring seems late this year.  I've only seen two families of Canadian Geese on the bike path and the goslings are nearly grown!  Mother Goose is very protective and hisses at us bikers as we pedal by.  She stared at me as I first passed, then stopped the bike to grab the camera.  But she soon lost interest and the little family headed to the water.  Today, another family was to the side of the path, the goslings napping on a very warm and beautiful day.

Gone Fishing

Spending a lot of time on the bike path affords me the opportunity to see many varieties of the local wildlife.   My camera is always with me.  On this particular day, I was riding my regular route and in the distance along the river, I saw a Great Blue Heron flying in my direction, landing along the edge of the bike path about 100 or so feet from me.  I immediately slowed down and got off the bike before I reached him.  Many of the herons I've seen have been skittish and if I get too close, they usually fly off,  but I figured at least I'd get a clean shot of this one flying.

But he looked curious.  He let me get within 20 feet of him, watching me, but not moving.  With my adrenaline pumping, I kept my movements slow and small, the camera was on, the lens was zoomed and I started shooting.  As I photographed him, I noticed a small fish swimming and I knew he was waiting for it.  He was, and in a quick sudden move, he had it in his mouth.  I got a couple of photos before he ate it.  Once he was done, he flew away.