November Beaches III.

Cape May Point's beaches are so manipulated (in order to protect the towns there) that pretty much the only natural thing about them is that there is an ocean at the bottom. But the dunes aren't doing too badly...

Goldenrod.

Shrooms in sand! Bit surprising...

They just keep adding sand... Good for the dunes, bad for the beach profile.

November Beaches, Part the Second.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Avalon and Stone Harbor, for the most part, have very good policies regarding dunes and their importance...

November Beaches, Part 1.

It's a good thing that the local beaches still have much to see even in winter, given that that's about the earliest I get down to them. Far fewer people and much more natural stuff, and the weather holds out long enough to actually make the trip pleasant... So here's the start of a series of photos from some beach walking I did during a week in early November.

I don't understand the visual draw of an endless, relatively empty ocean, but sitting listening to the planet's heartbeat--that I get...

Veterans' Day.

To all who have served... May your sacrifices never be forgotten.

Hard-headed.

Hard-headedness is a good thing when you are a woodpecker. Being used to blunt force head trauma, this Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker was able to quickly shake-off his collision with the front door at work, give us flaming what-for while we checked him over for injuries ("yep, I'd say he's fine..."), and fly off nimbly after I snapped a few photos (this being the only one in focus).

Summer's Last Hurrah...

Two lone hibiscii still in bloom in mid-September, the last flowers I saw (we are a few weeks past peak)... The pink is the bush hibiscus that has naturalized everywhere (generically "Rose of Sharon") including my yard, and the white is Marshmallow (which is native) that can be found all around the freshwater ponds in Cape May Point State Park.

Glad somebody thinks it's fall...

Goodness knows, summer seems to have returned after the teasers of mid-50° nights we had the other week. But just as retail stores are decked out in Halloween and other autumnal decorations, this little caterpillar is showing off its fall colors.

A coworker gets a bit miffed at people making up new names for beasties that already have names that have been used without trouble for a very long time (that's a Brit for you). But I have to admit that I like "Halloween Paint" much better than "Camphorweed Cucullia" for this glorious little creature... (And before you ask, it turns into a dull little brownish grayish moth, whose only distinguishing feature is a furry "hood" over its head. Here we call them "Hooded Owlets" but the British name for the moth group is, admittedly, more fun: Sharks.)

Lovely little dragons...

Seaside Dragonlets, to be precise. (For once, the female of the species is more colorful!) 2013 has been a fantastic year for dragonflies, and the Avalon yard was swarming with these wee beauties (only a couple of inches long) at the end of July. They are the one odonate species that can handle salt water in its nymph stage...

"Obelisking" to keep cool (lowers the exposed surface area)...

Have patience...

And a back-up plan.

Luckily I remembered in time that the Stone Harbor drawbridge had been throwing tantrums this summer: The large bit of blacktop in front of me was my get-away zone if the bridge had gotten stuck more permanently on the fourth attempt to close... Had time to finish my lunch, too!

No carnage, all cuteness...

Found this gorgeous little thing (Red-banded Hairstreak) at eye level in some giant fennel at the gardens up the road from my place in mid-July... A relatively quiet year for butterflies, but what we had were pretty spectacular.