Ghost Crab Tracks

Two large flights of migratory birds observed winging north out over the ocean this morning.  Ducks; Grebes; I couldn’t tell.  Other Snow Birds need to follow suit.   Many dead Cannonball jelly fish and crabs in surf line.  These jellies are edible, I’ve heard, but you have to get them fresh.  The ones washed in start decomposing quickly.  Never tried it, but I’m game.  The crabs were the small ocean-dwelling variety.  Some kind of cleansing going on out there.  The photo shows an interesting pattern of tracks made by a Ghost Crab.  These are the ubiquitous little sand-dwellers that start showing up in large number now that the sand and water have warmed up.  They are a lot of fun to watch; very defensive of territory and food.  They eat sand fleas and the little coquina clams normally, but will eat dead fish and birds, and even human carrion.  I’ve seen it.  They, in turn, are the favorite food of Night Herons.  Haven’t spotted any of those yet.  More dolphin sightings, too, but no rays.

Eastern Box Turtle

Landward, the Brown Anoles have taken over.  It’s their place now; we just get to stay as long as they don’t get ugly.  On Saturday, The Baby found this Eastern Box Turtle during one of his back lot excursions.  These little guys are a land turtle, and can live a very long time. Only about eight inches long, they have a very brightly colored, high-domed carapace.  If he stays out of the road, he should be here after we’re gone.  The Baby was thrilled.

Regular readers of The Post will recall the visits of the iridescent beetle.  He appeared again yesterday, but we fear it may have been the last time we’ll see him.  He flew up and landed on my arm, as usual, but couldn’t maintain footing, and fell to the deck, where he struggled, on his back, to regain an upright position.  I helped, and he flew off.  I am thinking it may be the end of his life cycle.  A privilege and an honor, beetle.  A hummingbird just appeared outside the studio window, extracting nectar from the stamen of an aloe, but was gone before I could get a picture.

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