Sea Isle City was as beautiful as ever -- sunrises, seashells, birds, and this year, surfers!
I've been taking photos of the birds on the beach for years and I see pretty much the same ones year after year. Sometimes kind of funny, like this drowsy, rumpled early-morning gull who looks like he really wishes he'd stayed in bed.
This year, to my surprise and delight I saw three new-to-me birds.
A black legged gull:
This sleek, bright-beaked bird;
And this small sand bird that's much whiter than the ones I usually see.
My favourite bird-related event was an actual bird fight. Two of the small sanderlings -- who normally are tightly focused on feeding -- went at each other with beak and claw.
I was also interested to see that other people are watching these birds too. This one is number P90.
Sea Isle did a major beach reclamation after hurricane Sandy a few years ago and a side effect of this has been a notable lack of shells on the beach. But sunrise has a way of illuminating even the fragments that get washed ashore.
Sea Isle has waves, but I rarely see surfers, especially early in the morning. This year I got a chance to play with my zoom lens to admire the form of this very far off surfer. I could barely see him with naked eyes, but the camera got some lovely close-ups.
Sea Isle's beach is beautifully maintained, in part though the relentless and pretty much unsung efforts of the garbage guys and the beach groomer. They're out before dawn every morning and always wave.
The garbage guy, taking a photo of the sunrise, I think…
…and the groomer, on his daily back and forth trek.
I'm surprised every year by something new. This year, besides the new-to-me birds, there was a Street Food Fair which allowed me to use my shooting-at-night setting.
One of Steve's always spectacular moon flowers. I wish you could smell it!
Speaking of the moon, one of my ambitions was to see the moon rise out of the ocean, just like the sun does every morning. Unluckily, moonrise always seemed to be early while we were visiting -- by the time it was dark enough to see the moon, it was already high in the sky. This year, moonrise was at 10:15 PM and I had my chance. It was truly spectacular -- a bittersweet-coloured moon rising from the sea. Sadly, the colour was so dark and rich that it didn't make a path on the ocean, so what my photos show is an orange blob on a black background. I'm including it because it's a pretty accurate representation of the moon's colour. I took this shot just as the moon cleared the horizon. You'll have to imagine that the black under the moon is ocean and the black above is sky.
A rare sighting of the Wood siblings, taken by the kind waitress at Ric's Diner: from left, George, Steve, me, Robbin, and Sheila.
This year, I've left the sunrises for last -- there are a lot of them and I harbour the fear that not everyone shares my fascination with them. As ever, I try to find a balance between sharing the things that interest me and helping you feel like you've been there without subjecting you to all 569 photos!
Jan
I usually have my back to the houses that line the beach, but the sunrise flatters them, too. Please note my very long shadow!
And even after the sun is up, there can be some very big skies.
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