MILE 323 on 3/23/10

On a beautiful sunny day, the beach was full of people doing everything from sitting in the sun, to building sandcastles, to flying kites. A good number of dogs, many of them off-leash, playing or going for a walk. Also saw several people riding bikes, and a few were braving the cold waters to go wading. In all my walks in the past few months, I have not seen too much in the way of notable wildlife. The standard birds including cormorants, gulls, and sand pipers have been observed, and the driftline has contained many of the usual razor clams and sand dollars. I have noted less dead gulls, and have only observed maybe 1 or 2 since last report and these were very far apart in dates. The dunes did look as though they had shifted after the winter as the shapes were different and some minor erosion can be observed. The only man-made change I saw was the creation of path that look it was created by a bulldozer at the southern end of the beach over the rocks where the dunes and beach meet. This path led through the dunes up towards the promenade. Many of the dunes and the dry sand contain evidence of fire pits. While I walk other beaches besides my mile, I find that this beach typically remains very consistent over the course of multiple observations in a season. It is a high traffic area in terms of amount of people using it for different activities, but I have not witnessed any major changes or unusual species in my times there over the past few months.

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kerihevner EMAIL • REPORT PUBLISHED 3/25/10 9:17 PM

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