Yesterday morning was a gorgeous overcast day on Eastern Long Island. Snow was forecast, but hadn’t yet begun when the dog and I headed out on Flying Point Road to the ocean.
Deer tracks on the beach, below.
There were several sets of tracks. Why are deer visiting the beach?
In early October, when I was last here, the beach was littered with the remains of tiny creatures.
Yesterday it was mostly swept clean of flotsam and jetsam. But not entirely, of course. Here and there were a few skate egg cases and bits of sea weed greens.
More oddly, wilted flowers that might have come from Miss Havisham’s wedding bouquet had washed up all along the beach.
Continuing the theme of remains, we found a female ruddy duck lying dead on her back just off the road by the bay.
Her death allowed me to look more closely at a duck’s body than I’ve ever been able to do before. I’ll write more about this beautiful little bird later, along with photos of her extraordinary feet and the serrated edge of the underside of her bill.
