Dawn on Pensacola Beach

On Friday and Saturday morning, I patrol Pensacola Beach for sea turtles so our SCA intern, Sally, has some time off. The rest of the week, I usually focus on beaches in the National Seashore.




Pensacola Beach has some surprising sights. There are the skimmers, nesting in the Five Flags property.



Least terns mix in with them too.



Both species tend to fly up as a group when I ride by, which is a very effective parenting skill. Not many people venture close to the nests or chicks when a hundred birds are swooping at their heads!



Of course, the area is also closed to pedestrians -- it would be too easy to step on the eggs. These are Common Nighthawk (Chordeiles minor) eggs that I found at Santa Rosa today, but the nests look about the same - just sand, shell and rock.



Oddly enough, it's easy to step on the chicks too; even the large ones simply crouch down on the sand and rubble when they're scared. They'll also look for shade anywhere, even under your heel if you're standing on tiptoe (I know from personal experience -- what can I say, I'm short!).




Other things on the beach are a little harder to explain. Maybe this is meant to be a more accessible version of Fort Pickens -- the real fort is a little hard to get to right now with the seven-mile hike through the hot sand.




As I left the beach this morning, I was happy to see someone else made angels here. I didn't take a photo of that because it seemed too personal. Sand angels are even more fun than snow angels, plus, they just might protect us from gray skies :)