Floaty Things

The Gulf Faith as it heads back to the docks.

It actually went back out as I was leaving the boardwalk. I guess these vessels are basically shuttles.

Meanwhile, a backhoe on a raft. I have no idea what this could possibly be used for.

Blooming Cactus

Everything is blooming at the moment, even the cactus on the dunes.

A closer look at the flowers. These are easily the biggest flowers in the boardwalk area.

A Great Blue Heron

Great blue herons are pretty commonplace for most of the year, and not really afraid of people. This one is standing on the DISL dock.

I didn't go to the pier at the end of the boardwalk today. There was a couple standing there holding each other, and looked like they were going to be there a while. A whole bunch of sailboats capsized in a severe thunderstorm during a sailing event over the weekend, two dead and several still missing, and this end of the island has been covered with disaster relief and news crews. I hope they find the missing boaters. Meanwhile the rest of us just try to stay out of the way.

Sparrows

A whole bunch of these sparrows have moved into the rafters of the boardwalk's big gazebo. I think they're house sparrows.

Pennywort

Pennyworts are basically big round dark green leaves that are on the ground everywhere almost all of the time.

This sign mentioned what their flowers look like. I'd never noticed their flowers before, so I went to look.

What do you know, they're flowering right now too!

Brown Pelicans

A brown pelican standing around at the line of rocks.

Some more pelicans hanging around at the DISL dock.

Best closeup I could get of the pelican on the post.

A Big Gull and a Boat

A juvenile gull of some sort that is much bigger than all the laughing gulls. Probably a herring gull, but I don't really have any idea. Since it's the biggest bird around, it can stand on whatever posts it wants.

The Gulf Faith. Looks just like the Gulf Glory, but with a different name. It's been hanging around here for a few weeks now, and I haven't seen the Gulf Glory in a while.

Berries: The Sequel

We've had torrential downpours all week, and today was the first I'd been able to get back out to see how the berries are doing. Here they are again! Looks like they're going to be dark like blackberries.

I haven't tasted them. Maybe next time.

Berries

Today I noticed lots and lots of these berries developing. I think this is what became of all the white flowers from a few weeks ago.

More Flowers

The other type of yellow flower that have started to bloom in big patches, though they aren't anywhere near as numerous as the purple ones.

Also, the flowers that butterflies like are starting to bloom again too. No butterflies yet, but at some point a whole bunch of monarchs will show up en masse for their spring migration.

Laughing Gulls Laughing

Here's some laughing gulls laughing.

The boat is one of the Coast Guard's.

There were also half a dozen pelicans diving for fish, but not when and where I shot the video.

A Sailboat

Sailboats are actually pretty uncommon around here. Most people toodle around in small boats with outboards, or in big commercial vessels. Today I spotted one sitting just outside the boat launch area.

They were unfurling their sail. There's lots of wind out today so I guess they'll be able to do a lot of sailing.

Status of the Spartina

The Spartina are all sprouting out new leaves pretty good now. The tallest ones still have the dead frilly flowery part from last fall at the top, but there's new greenery coming in mid-stalk.

The pea trees are still dead at the moment.

The white flowers are all gone, but the purple ones are really blooming. There's two kinds of yellow flowers now too, though at much lower abundance.

Lots of laughing gulls everywhere. At some point I'll manage to get a good video with them laughing in it, just for cruinne. :)