The Mysterious Bird

That bird I don't recognize is still hanging around, though not close enough to get any good pictures. It seems to be some sort of diving waterfowl, like a duck but with the wrong kind of bill for a duck.

In other on-the-rocks news, a laughing gull was yelling its head off at another laughing gull standing next to it, and was a real pest about it, until the other one finally regurgitated a fish and handed it over. Since they both had breeding plumage, I'd guess they were mates rather than parent/kid.

Snapper Sign

A new sign at the boat launch near the boardwalk pier. Looks like something is going on with red snapper, which I assume means Lutjanus campechanus (them's good eatin'), and not all of the other fish that are both snappers and red (ex. Rhomboplites aurorubens), or sometimes are red and get sold as snappers but actually aren't.

DISL Dock Heron

There always seems to be a great blue heron hanging out at the DISL dock. It might even be the same one.

Some Birds and Some Bright Green Algae

To the right, an egret. On top of the pole, a juvenile laughing gull. Next to the pole in the middle of the picture, a bird about the size of the egret, but not white, and too small to be a heron. Not sure what that was.

To the right of the egret, the rocks on the bay-facing side of the line has become covered with bright green algae. It's like that all over. It looks a little like moss, but that wouldn't grow in the salty bay waters. 

The egret is not pictured because this shot was actually taken yesterday. I've been super lax about actually posting my pictures lately. Will try to do better (after some minor cheating by back-filling older pictures earlier in the month...).

New Boards

Well, the yellow caution sign is gone, and they replaced the board with the hole in it, and also another one. But not the one that was sticking up (not pictured), I guess because it stopped doing that after some heavy rains soaked it back flat.

Also, another new board on the way to the pier. (It's two narrow ones together, actually.)

The one that I mentioned several months ago is also doing a fine job of blending in with the older boards now.

Many Small Flowers

This kind of yellow flower is back in bloom.

Also, the basic yellow daisy looking things. There seems to be at least a couple different species of them.

The morning glories are back and starting to take over the higher-elevated areas.

Finally: these tiny two-petal purple things. I haven't seen these before, and they're close to the edge of the boardwalk area. Not sure if they're marsh plants or grass.

Bird Poo and a Caution Sign

It looks like a whole bunch of birds decided to roost on the east side of the pier recently. The line of poo keeps going off to the right, halfway down the bridge.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the boardwalk: a hole has appeared, and someone stuck a yellow Caution sign in it.

Pontoons

Busy day at the boat launch today. There was one boat coming, one boat going, and a boat with blue pontoons just sitting there docked.

Also, the water level has been really high for the last several weeks due to all the rain we've been getting.

Some NOAA equipment

Random equipment sitting in the middle of the dunes, bearing NOAA logos. Not sure what they're for, probably monitoring something. No educational signs explaining them. No warning signs to keep away, either. They've been there for at least as long as I've been working down here. I've yet to see anyone tend to them.

Peas?

Saw some more small green plants that have started sprouting near the dead pea trees. Maybe these are the new peas?

Going to watch these all year now, just to see what they do. :)

The Duke

I've seen this boat go back and forth several times now, so I guess it warrants mention now. Must be part of the summer boating tourism season.

Burrs

It's been warm long enough now that Sticky Seeds season seems to have started back up. After every walk, I have to check my shoes and get these off before I go inside. Otherwise, I end up stepping on them while wandering around in my office in socks.

They're a pain in the neck. Or, more often, under the fingernails.

Snails

The water level has been really high lately. (By coincidence, we've also had a lot of storms in the past few weeks.) The plants that are right by the water line, and currently in the water, were covered with periwinkles (small snails).

Lots of Little Boats

Summer boating season seems to have started. There were lots of little boats going in and out from the docks today.

A couple fishing boats. Not pictured: a larger boat that said "6 hour fishing tour" on its side.

One of the small commercial boats that say "PILOT" on the side. These dock in the same place as the big vessels like Gulf Glory and MS Joy.

A Snake

... or possibly a legless amphibian. It was in the middle of running away while I was taking its picture.

An Otter Trawl

The back of the R/V Alabama Discovery with an otter trawl set up on the A-frame. Otter trawl is the most common way to collect a bunch of random fish from the middle of the water column for educational purposes.

So basically what happens is that the trawl comes up with fish in that green net currently on the table, and then they dump all the fish onto the table to look at.

And then when they're done looking, just put the fish back overboard.

Two Kinds of Spartina and Possible Peas

The plant in front has darker green, wider leaves than most of the Spartina along the boardwalk. And there's lots of other ones around there that look like that, so it's not just a fluke. Must be a different species.

Meanwhile, a candidate plant for future peas? The central stem is pretty woody. There's lots of these around where the dead pea trees are. I still think that's an awful lot of energy to expend on building a structure that large and stout for only one year, but then, I'm neither a plant nor a botanist.

Two Gulls on the Same Post

Two laughing gulls standing on the same post. That's a new one on me. They usually chase each other off, and the biggest bird wins. I'd guess these must be mates.

Construction Notes

Looks like something bad happened to the rails on the way to the DISL weather station.

Meanwhile, a board sticking up. I noticed it last week, forgot about it and tripped over it today, then watched someone else trip over it on my way back. Wonder how long it'll be like that before someone fixes it.

Random Scenery Shot

A view of the bridge to the end of the pier, from the end of the pier. I just realized as I was turning around the other day that I'd never taken a picture from this direction before.

Some Pink Flowers

Today I saw some medium-sized pink flowers. These were the only ones I saw, and they were pretty far from the boardwalk. 

Also, these plants look kind of cool.

Big Boats

The Gulf Glory as it heads away from dock, from behind the Jodi D. I hadn't seen it in a while, so I took a picture. The Jodi D, meanwhile, looks pretty much exactly like the MS Joy, which I also haven't seen in a while.

Status of the Peas

It's the beginning of May, everything else started blooming and putting out leaves months ago, and so far they're still dead. These were the trees that almost completely overgrew the beginning of the pier last fall with massive amounts of peas. I would've assumed, given that they're fairly tall trees, that they aren't annuals - but they don't even have buds on them. And it's not just one dead-looking pea tree, they're all like that.

I also don't see anything sprouting up from the ground that looks like it'll turn into a pea tree later. So weird.

Some Random White Flowers

These are blooming in the higher parts of the boardwalk marsh, at the edges of the dunes.

More Pelicans on Posts

They're where the R/V E.O. Wilson is normally berthed. I guess these poles are wider than the ones by the boardwalk pier. That's the Gulf Faith in the background, maneuvering to dock.

At the boardwalk pier today, there were a pair of laughing gulls mating on the rocks (but they were done before I got out the camera), and a big group of gulls bombarding some screaming kids on the other side of the marina. I wonder if the kids learned anything about why it's a bad idea to feed the gulls.

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.