It's Raining Sunlight

It didn't rain today, though fall arrived overnight. Temperatures dropped thirty degrees, and the high was in the 50s. Anyone who saw me on the beach must have thought I was nuts in my sweatshirt, three raincoats and borrowed winter jacket. I don't do cold well... I can take a desert in the summertime, but anything below 80 really chills my bones. Even the sky looks cold.


The red tide is still apparent, but very much lessened. I could see and breathe on the beach after six hours, though I was a little numb from the cold. There have been no new dead fish today, and only one dead dolphin yesterday. That's bound to happen for a while still as the effects make their way up the food chain. It just breaks my heart every time I have to necropsy a dead marine mammal or sea turtle. My one consolation is knowing that the person assessing them, me, is someone who really cares about the sea and the health of the animals in it.



The birds were out in full force -- it was a great day to be back on the beach, as long as you're dressed for the face-numbing north wind. Even the sanderlings were huddled together for warmth. Any venturing out on their own for a little food were fluffed up and bent over like hunchbacks, bracing against the breeze. Taking field notes with unfeeling fingers was difficult -- it's a good thing no one reads my notebook but me!


It seems odd to have autumn without the leaves changing and falling to the ground. The palm fronds simply bow to the north wind, the birds huddle for warmth and the sand and wind whip along the bay, but that's all that announces the arrival of a new season. Fall doesn't last long here in the deep south, but it's a welcome change from the red tide weather of last week!