Category Archives: cape cod beaches

A free digital download for you!

Posted on by

I am presently working on a coloring and activity book with a Cape Cod theme and while doing my programs this summer came up with a small, easily downloadable booklet called “My Cape Cod Beach.Book.” It is printed on both sides of one piece of paper, cut in half and either tied together with string or yarn or stapled. It fits easily into a pocketbook or backpack and is great for those times kids have to spend waiting….

Here’s a quick picture tutorial of how to put your booklet together. Ordering information is at the end of this post.  Continue reading →

Blue Eyed Scallops

Posted on by

When I was a kid we found beautiful scallop shells at almost every south side beach on the Cape but especially at Kalmus and Dowse’s Beaches. Due to over harvesting and the depletion of eelgrass beds the population of these tasty little scallops, also called bay scallops, crashed. It is slowly rebounding and once again I can find scenes like this one on my early morning walks….

Blue eyed scallops are bivalves, having two shells. Often their shells don’t match which makes collecting different colored shells easy and fun. They only live about 2 years and grow to about 3″ max.  Continue reading →

Finding a lovely bog orchid….

Posted on by

One of the pleasures of wandering about with no real agenda or expectations is that one sometimes comes across a real gem….

How beautiful is this little flower? It was just standing there with another of its kind in a little old wild cranberry bog in the middle of the dunes in Sandy Neck in Barnstable and was only about 5-6″ high.. I was there leading an art and nature group this past weekend and we had special permission to do some meandering but this little cranberry bog is actually right off to the side of a main trail going out to the beach from the marsh side–about 4 miles out.

This sweet ‘bog orchid’ is known as Rose Pogonia, Pogonia ophioglossoides and according to Mario DiGregorio is not as rare as you might think. In fact, back in the day this little flower was so commonly found in cranberry bogs that young girls were paid a penny a plant to rid the bogs of these pesky “weeds.”

The other name for this plant is Snakeweed, due to its ragged, tongue like appearance. Look for it in old cranberry bogs, especially in dune areas like High Head and Sandy Neck. You can find more information in the wonderful Cape Cod Wildflowers: A Vanishing Heritage by Mario DiGregorio and Jeff Wallner.

Watching a front move in…

Posted on by

When we arrived at the beach around noon the sun was shining brightly, the sky was blue and there were some big puffy clouds on the horizon…

As we walked along the shore the clouds got thicker and thicker…

They looked very dramatic over the dunes…

and on the backside of the dunes the bright light lit up the sand against the violet and blue clouds…

We began to feel a few drops of rain and began to walk a little faster….

and faster….

and the rain got a little heavier but all the while parts of the sky remained bright blue…

Yep, just another day at the beach….

Photos taken today on Kalmus Beach in Hyannis.

Late May on the beach….

Posted on by

It is only a few days before Memorial Day and the Cape Cod beaches are beautiful…and still pretty quiet so come for a walk with me…

First we’ll take a turn by the sweet smelling rosa rugosa’s which are blooming really early this year…

We will stop to admire the beach peas, also blooming really early….and while we’re at it we’ll look out over Nantucket Sound…

Here’s a close up of those lovely beach peas…

We’ll enjoy the view of the sliver that remains of Egg Island, that only shows up at low tide. That’s Great Island in Yarmouth in the background.

We’ll stop to look across Lewis Bay in the amazing light…

Check out some courting least terns…

and smile at the ones lined up at the edge of the water…

And then we’ll take one last long look at the sand, sea and sky before we head back to work…

Oh, what a beautiful day!

Posted on by

It sure didn’t feel like March around here today…It was so warm walking on the beach that we were in our shirt sleeves….

Look at the blue sky, the calm sea, the light sand….ahhhhh….

These photos are from Corporation Beach, taken around lunch time today…

Just beautiful….

These are the days that get us through the other not so nice days, the days when the cold wind howls down under our collars and through our ears….

On a day like today one can only sigh and think……perfection!

Here’s a quick little video of what it sounded and looked like walking along the water’s edge today…especially for those of you who couldn’t make it to the beach today….

Stormy Days

Posted on by

The Nor’easter of the last few days has been very intense with strong winds and deluges of rain. Branches and trees are down everywhere but nowhere is the damage felt as strongly as along our beaches. Although the outer Cape beaches have probably felt the impact the strongest, many bay side and even south facing beaches have taken big hits as well.

On the outer Cape the erosion has been so severe that most of the stairs leading down to the beaches have been washed away and the dunes so undercut that no one is allowed down on the actual beaches. At high tide, there is no beach. Only what’s left of the cliffs and the raging water…this first picture is from Marconi Beach in Wellfleet.
This second shot is from Nauset Light Beach, where the only stairs remaining are the top few that are still hanging on to the platform…
This view from Fort Hill doesn’t look very threatening….until you realize there is no marsh and no barrier beach to be seen….all under water!!! Very shocking….
Here’s foggy view of what is left of the barrier beach in the distance. You can see the water washing over it and over the marsh (or what used to be the marsh) behind it.
This white water was already past the dunes that used to be there at Coast Guard Beach and slamming against the bushes that are supposed to be upland, not wetland plants….
Storms have always caused upheavals and rearrangements of beach area on the Cape but in my lifetime this seems like one of the most severe ones. We will have to wait until the tides recede and the waves calm down to truly assess the damage….

Ruddy Turnstones

Posted on by

One of the first shorebirds I could identify for sure as a kid was a ruddy turnstone. They have very distinctive markings, are not very shy and if you watch them long enough they do exactly what their name suggests. They turn over stones to look for food.These guys were found at Dowse’s Beach in Osterville this week. There were about a dozen mixed in with the local winter sanderlings. Turnstones don’t generally winter here though they are seen sporadically. I don’t know if these have been here all winter or if they are early arrivals on their way north. They are in winter plumage that is turning.
They have the most wonderful markings.
Here is one getting behind a stone or shell to turn it over.
What did it find? Mostly they are looking for invertebrates to eat such as worms, small crabs, etc.
In this picture above you can see the orange on the legs. Have you ever seen one of these birds?

Waiting for the snow….

Posted on by

These photos were taken a few days ago when it was sunny but very cold. We are waiting for snow to fall here on Cape Cod so I thought I’d just post these for fun. The first gull is a greater black backed gull.These gulls look black against the light but that’s just because the sun is behind them, making them look like silhouettes.

These gulls were in the parking lot sitting out of the wind, at least the wind off the water. Most of these are ring billed gulls.Stay warm!