Although it is officially spring in my area, there is still a biting chill in the air. On my most recent outing to the shore I wore not only my winter coat, but an extra layer of jersey under it. It was a sunny Saturday and the nip in the air did not deter people from enjoying nature.
Here is a picture of a challenging foot trail that people visit throughout the year. They were certainly there when I visited the shore.
Those who ascended to the top of the trail would get a sweeping view of this sight.
Although the stairs seem to suggest that a smooth path will welcome the hiker, this is not at all the case. My daughter walked the trail on that day (yesterday). She has walked it before and describes it as a vigorous workout. No attempt has been made to groom the trail. It is covered with rocks, fallen tree parts and other natural impediments. She suggested I not even attempt the hike.
Hikers will see not only the scene in the picture above, but they will have a bird's eye view of the coast beneath that wooden fence.
A hiker crossed the road and enjoyed the view up close.
What we cannot see in this picture is the strip of shore and the multitude of oysters that live and die along the coast. Here's a picture of the tangle of oysters and oyster shells that the hiker can gaze upon as she looks down from the fence.
The hiking trail, and the oyster-rich shore are in Cold Spring Harbor, NY. The Cold Spring Harbor/Oyster Bay complex is connected to the Long Island sound. The Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor complex is said to be the cleanest estuary in Western Long Island. It is considered to be of great ecological, recreational and economic importance.
Here's a picture of oysters that are just below the surface of the water. I got pretty close to get this picture and almost slipped on the slime-covered rocks on the beach.
Oysters are not only economically important to the area. The also play an important role in keeping the waters clean. Oysters filter algae out of the water; one oyster may filter approximately 50 gallons of water a day..
Here is a picture of one beautiful, intact, but empty oyster shell.
I'm sure there are many ways the oyster from this shell might have perished. One way is the ducks that I saw bobbing along the coast. Ducks feed on shell fish,including oysters. Apparently "bivalves are a major component of a duck's diet."
When I visited Cold Spring Harbor it was low tide. I checked the tidal table and low tide was about 3:23 PM yesterday. I was there a little before 4, which probably explains why I saw so many shells on the beach.
Here's a shot of oysters and oyster shells exposed to view by an ebbing tide. Seems like these have been pretty much picked clean.
I captured a series of pictures that showed Mallard ducks actively diving into the water and eating. Were they eating oysters?
With their heads in the water:
The ducks hunting, one head up, one head down:
The ducks here swimming together, heads up.
The mallard pair shown in these pictures is likely monogamous, though the male may stray and force himself on single females he encounters. The male is the brightly colored bird, the female the one with muted colors.
The muted colors of the female serve both her survival and the survival of her chicks. She chooses nesting sites where she can blend in with the environment.
Here's a picture I took in May of last year of a mated pair. These mallards were swimming in a local pond. In this photo the coloration of male and female is very clear. The photo was posted in another blog at the time.
Though the mallards pair up in fall, egg laying takes place in the spring. The female is pretty much on her own when the eggs are incubating. She only occasionally leaves the nest to feed, while the male is off frolicking with other males. Takes almost a month for the incubating eggs to hatch.
Here's one more shot of the hunting mallards I saw at Cold Spring Harbor yesterday. As you might guess from the photos, they spent most of their time with their heads under water. I don't think I've ever seen mallards hunt so actively.
Mallards weren't the only hunters that day, though. While some humans, me for instance, had come to Cold Spring Harbor to enjoy the environment, others were busy looking for food.
Here is a quite serious fisherman, who is sharing his stage with a couple of egrets.
Here is the fisherman again, still intent on pursuing his prey, and in the this frame we see another hunter, a seagull.
While in the picture above we notice the seagull is sitting in shallow water, below we see our eager fisherman standing in water as he throws his fishing line out. I'm sure if I pulled the view out wider, I would have seen other hunters in the water with him.
I obviously wasn't hunting that day. I'd come to enjoy nature. But I wasn't the only one. There were also a few dogs on the shore that had come with their family to enjoy the air and scenery. Here are two of them, one seasoned and tired, the other young and spry.
I'll end the post with the only shot you'll see of me today. Here the young dog from the previous picture is looking for attention. You can see my camouflage sneakers peeking out from my long winter coat.
Cold Spring Harbor is a beautiful place to visit. Both the hiking trail and the shore in these pictures are open to the public. It's a quiet place, but every time I visit I come back feeling refreshed, batteries recharged.
Thank you for reading my blog. I hope everyone is having a peaceful Sunday.
All photos in this blog were taken, by me, with my Nikon Coopix500 camera.