A Day of Comparisons

I know it's rather silly, but it struck me today that so many things I was seeing were studies in contrast.

There were girl turtle tracks:



and Turtle Girl tracks...



Straight ATV Tracks:



and Turning Turtle Tracks:



Well-hidden, sedge-shaded Wilson's plover (Charadrius wilsonia) nests:



And bare-sand, heat-exposed, killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) nests:



Sedate Wilson's plovers moms (I wonder if that's because the nest is so well hidden):



and flagrant, dancing killdeer parents:



Snowy Plover (Charadrius alexandrinus) chicks, hiding by seaweed -- how cute are they? I missed the seaweed in this picture, but I had to use it!



and Least Tern chicks (Sternula antillarum) hiding by the asphalt. See the different beak color and fluffier down-like feathers?



Beautiful seascapes:



and stunning sand scapes. These lovely dunes are what remains in the Santa Rosa area post Ivan and Dennis. They're more ethereal and precious because so few remain.



In all, it was a gorgeous day at the office. No turtle nests, but there was a 'false crawl' at Perdido Key -- maybe she'll come back tomorrow! That term kind of bothers me -- it's a real crawl, there's just no nest... Oh well. Semantics aren't worth the trouble they can cause...