We enjoyed a marvelous walk later that day on Wells beach amidst the perfume of beach roses. It smelled like heaven!
We just spent three wonderful days in Maine; despite the heavy rain and cool temps. We managed to squeak in a walk on a beach in Kennebunkport on Monday afternoon. The highlight of the treasure hunt was finding two intact False Angel Wings! They are pictured in the photo above. (I cannot wait to paint these beauties!) We also witnessed these Least Terns hunkering down on the shore along with some Great Black-backed Gulls. On Tuesday we visited the Vivian E. Hussey Primary School in Berwick, ME, where I read "Seashells - Treasures from the Northeast Coast". I'm thankful to Anita Haberzettl for inviting me back to visit and to talk with the awesome first graders. We enjoyed a marvelous walk later that day on Wells beach amidst the perfume of beach roses. It smelled like heaven! On our way home on Wednesday we stopped at Footbridge Beach in Ogunquit. Again, we were delighted with the perfume of beach roses and were so excited to see Piping Plovers nesting on the beach and foraging on the shore. We finished up the walk with this short video. Enjoy! Can you see the Piping Plover ? He/she is well camouflaged in the sand.
0 Comments
Last week I spent many wonderful days walking Hampton Beach in New Hampshire. Although there were not many shells to find...I did discover several strange, grey, rubbery pieces of something.... You may have had this same experience and wondered what they are? Well - they are the egg collars of Northern Moon Snails! Both the Northern Moon Snail and the Shark's Eye Moon Snail create and lay their eggs into these "egg/sand collars". Here is a close-up of the eggs in the sand collar. The eggs are smaller than the grains of sand on the beach! The two types of Moon Snails commonly found on New England beaches are the Northern Moon Snail and the Shark's Eye Moon Snail. The Shark's Eye Moon Snail is found on Cape Cod and Southern New England/Northeast beaches. You can tell the difference between the two by turning them over. The Northern Moon Snail has an opening called a umbilicus - it reminds me of a belly button! The Shark's Eye is also called the Lobed Moon Snail and that is because it has a "lobe" of shell covering it's umbilicus. Here you can clearly see the difference: You may notice that the Shark's Eye has more blue coloring than the Northern Moon Snail especially around the "eye" or the very point/apex of the shell. But I have also found Northern Moon Snails that are very dark blue all over....I wonder if they have been eating Blue Mussels?
For more information on Moon Snails check out these web sites: http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/field_guide/underwater http://www.asnailsodyssey.com/LEARNABOUT/MOON/moonRepr.php http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/10/09/625582/-Marine-Life-Series-Moon-Snails-and-Sand-Collars# |
AuthorJoanne is a New England based watercolor artist, writer, and the author/illustrator of children's books. She adores the seashore and loves to share that love by filming her beach combing adventures. Archives
April 2022
Categories
All
|