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.

In November, on our way home from Maine we stopped at Sandy Point on Plum Island. Last time we visited Plum Island we walked the middle section of this lovely barrier island and found many beautiful shells including the Chestnut Astarte. This time we drove out Refuge Road to the southern tip called Sandy Point. It is also part of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. 
It was such a beautiful spot and we did not have much time to comb the beach so I cannot wait to go back and really explore. Till' we get back again- enjoy this little video. (Watch it till' the end for a little surprise.)
I also want to clarify that the Northern Moon Snail has a large foot that it holds the clam with while it tunnels through the shell with it's radula. The radula is like a ribbon with little teeth and the snail uses it like a file. Kinda scary if your a clam or another Moon snail - because they can be cannibals! 
Still - they have one of the most beautiful shells on the Northeast coast.

On September 17th we were able to get out to Plum Island in Massachusetts for a beach combing adventure. We walked for over three hours combing the beach for treasures and found lots of them! The most interesting find was the Chestnut Astarte clams. Even after we shot this video I found a portion of a Waved whelk and a Stimpson's whelk. I was also really pleased to find several small Deep Sea Scallop shells - very pretty! I will post photos of those soon...for now enjoy this video from Plum Island!

In the last video from Hampton Beach - I had these shells in an Altoid case for protection. It is hard to get a good look at them in the video so I photographed them here so you can see them "up close". These False Angels Wings are small - the larger one being an inch and a half.

This is a Ribbed Pod - also called the Atlantic Razor Clam. These shells are delicate and break easily as you can see from one side of the bivalve. The Ribbed Pod is 2 and half inches long. Blue Mussels are on the right. They typically have stronger shells and can be kept in your beach pail or a pocket!