Winter beach walk

Today was unseasonably wonderful here, sunny with temperatures in the 60s. Ellen and I went to the beach to walk, beginning at Townsend's Inlet.

We thought there might be ducks in the channel there, but we saw none, so we started picking up interesting shells. This Moon Snail shell is broken and weathered, but still attractive.

My best find was this section of Whelk shell, very weathered, and inside snails or worms have cut curved shapes and lots of little dotted-line paths, reminding me of a treasure map.

There were some birds on the ocean side, a small flock of Bonaparte's Gulls. They winter here in small numbers, and we don't see them often, a very delicate gull with a thin black bill and a dark spot behind the eye.

We drove across the toll bridge to the north end of Avalon, and stopped to look for more birds at the 7th Avenue jetty. There were flocks of Surf Scoters like these…

…and on the jetty rocks, some Purple Sandpipers. Two more species that winter here.

We continued south to the Avalon boardwalk where we walked the length for exercise, after a look out over the beach. A rare sight to see any of the beaches in our area so empty.

Then we drove back to the mainland and had a nice sushi dinner at Murasaki in Cape May Court House. A fine afternoon excursion.