I went birding today with the Carolina Bird Club. We went to Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina. When I met up with the group they had just spotted a bird which I cannot remember the name of. It was standing behind some tall grasses in a fresh water marsh. It was fun to stand there and watch it; hoping, with the rest of the group, that it would come out into full view. It finally did and flew across and to the other side of the causeway we were standing on. From there we followed its movements and tried to get pictures of it. Below is a video and some of the pictures I got of the bird.
Emerging from the grass
Here are some video and pictures of some of the shore birds I saw.
Sandpipers
Super cute birds
I learned some other things that had nothing to do with birds. I saw quite a few shells of horseshoe crabs which are huge and incredibly menacing looking. It is apparently a primitive creature and more related to spiders than other crabs and comes from a big family (or phylum or something like that) but all the rest of its family members are extinct.
I also learned about another primitive creature that looks like slimy brains. It is called a sea squirt and it is a primitive nodo cord creature and is apparently related to us. If I remember right, when humans are developing in the womb our neurological system begins development as a nodo cord ... but I would have to go back and check on that. When we first came upon these sea squirts I bent over to pick one up thinking that it was a rock but I stopped short because it looked a bit too squishy for a rock. I pressed into them instead with my boot because I still thought that it was a rock but feared that it might be something related to a jellyfish. They were actually pretty firm but not to the extent of a rock. There was a naturalist with us and he told us their name and their relation to us. I felt kind of bad that I had stepped on them when I realized that they were relations =). I took quite a few pictures of them because I thought that they were fascinating sea creatures.
Sea squirt with flexible coral
This is one of the sea squirts that really looked like a rock at first
8 comments:
I'm jealous! I wish I would have been there with you. Where is Huntington Beach? I'm glad, if we evolved, that we evoved into something better looking than a sea squirt.
Huntington beach is about 30-40 minutes south of Myrtle Beach. It is a nice little bit of naturalness amidst all of the craziness of the mass tourist market of Myrtle Beach.
I don't know that we evolved from sea squirts ... just that we are biologically related. I'm interested to learn more about them!
I wish you would have been there with me too! =)
Kate always has some great adventures! Beach birds are lots of fun!
I love the beach in the winter! Dan and I used to love to go to Okracoke Island for our anniversary. It is wild and full of life at this time of year. I love the pictures of the "brains"!
Thanks for taking all of us to the beach ... I for one, really enjoyed the trip.
Love you,
Dad
This looks like a fun little trip. I think the bird watching class I took at Ricks might have been more fun if we would have gone to the beach!!
Kristi -
you are like the coolest person on the face of the earth. I can barely keep up with you ... and the photographs are incredible.
You're meant for great things. Keep growing....!
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