Wednesday, January 25, 2023

Another Snowy Owl Hunt-part 1

 Hi everyone. I hope your week is going well. 

This is a scheduled post as my husband and I are away trying our best to escape winter for a few days. Thank goodness.   According to my daughter who is dog sitting we are getting dumped on.  It might be hard to come home in a couple of days😜

Last week I went to Salisbury State Beach Reservation in northeast Massachusetts twice. Both times I went looking for snowy owls, but I never saw one. On my second trip I went with 2 girlfriends, and even though the lack of snowy owls was disappointing (but is hit or miss because they are wild owls), we had a nice walk and saw some other interesting wildlife.


You might remember there was still snow in the dunes in last Saturday's post, but by the time we took this trip (just 2 days after my first trip), the snow had disappeared.

There were still clam and mussel shells scattered all over the beach. 



The holes you see in some of the shells are made by predatory snails (often moon snails) that want to eat the animal inside the bivalve shells.


And I love this purple sand.




Isn’t  this purple colored sand beautiful?  Here's what I think causes it: Colored Beach Sand.

But we also find purple beaches in other areas, where the color purple comes from mixing a variety of sand grains with different colors. These include grains of pink almandine-pyrope garnet, white quartz, a mix of black minerals, including augite, ilmenite and hematite, and green epidote. All these particles together create the purple sand at the Plum Island Beach in the state of Massachusetts in the US.

Plum Island, Massachusetts (that is mentioned in this explanation I found) is quite near to Salisbury State Reservation where all these photos were taken.

And for those of you who love some rust, here's a couple of close ups of those metal pilings.






I love close ups of the  trees that have washed up onto the beach. The wood has such a cool texture.

And it wasn't a beautiful sunny day when we went. These clouds were the outer band of some that brought us about 6 inches of snow that night and into the next day.


But the grey skies certainly make the color of the orange triangular sign pop.

That's all for me today, but I do have some more photos from our beach walk that I'll share tomorrow in another scheduled post. 

Thanks for visiting.







11 comments:

Iris Flavia said...

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful pics!!!!
And interesting info, too!
Sad there were no snow owls, though.
To a great holiday and hugs!

Anne (cornucopia) said...

Fantastic photos.

David M. Gascoigne, said...

It's too bad that you dipped on the Snowy Owl, Erika, but they are exceptionally hard to find this year, even here where we expect to see them in locations they have visited for years. You had a great visit to the beach, nevertheless, and the quest is always a major part of the adventure. Enjoy your hiatus away from home and have a safe journey home. Hugs - David

kathyinozarks said...

Good morning, enjoyed all the photos-I have never seen purple sand before-will go back and read the link your posted. I didn't know that about the wholes in the shells. enjoy your vacation away from all that snow hugs Happy mid week Kathy

Beatrice P. Boyd said...

Hope that you and your husband are enjoying a nice getaway, Erika, perhaps someplace warm, sunny and snow-free. Thanks for sharing the images from your recent beach walk and especially that purple sand, my favorite color😀

Carola Bartz said...

A pity that you weren't able to find a Snowy Owl. As you said, they're wild ones and they don't behave according to humans' wishes. Nevertheless, you showed us so many interesting and beautiful pictures of the beach and I learned about the colored beaches. Here, we have gray sand on the beach, but I saw pink sand dunes in Utah and the black sand on the Big Island - and of course Glass Beach in Fort Bragg. It's so fascinating. The trees are beautiful as well - I love driftwood. I hope you enjoy your break from winter and come back home safely.

Jeanie said...

These are fascinating. I love seashores. And that purple sand is really remarkable. Loving all the shells too. What a great day.

CJ Kennedy said...

Now I want to take a trip to Salisbury. Enjoy the warm and the sunshine. More snow is on the way today, but will turn to rain here tonight. I think you and ski country are going to get whacked. Enjoy the sunshine and warm for me.

Lowcarb team member said...

I did enjoy all of your photographs here :)
I hope that you and your husband are enjoying your getaway.

All the best Jan

Aimeslee Winans said...

Great photos. Very cool article about the sand colors. Our Galveston Bay sometimes has blue water but most of the time is brown due to it being shallow and silt and sediments stay in the water without an oceanic force to force it to deposit. Likewise, our beaches are grayish-brown. People incorrectly label the reason as pollution, but further down the coast where it's less protected, deeper and gets more of the full force of the oceanic waves, the beaches are blue with white sand. I suspect beaches right on the ocean have the best cosmetics. xoxo

Divers and Sundry said...

Purple sand! Cool! I've never heard of such.