A Day at the Beach: Sharks, Birds, and Humans

I haven't been able to get to the beach this season, although I live a couple of miles away from the shore. However, my daughter goes almost daily. On one of her recent visits she caught some beautiful photos that she shared with me so I could post them on Hive. I love these. Looking at these pictures and hearing my daughter describe them is almost like being there myself.

For example, look at this photo of an egret, standing on a rock as it surveys the water in search of dinner. She saw several egrets on the day she took the pictures. I've never seen one at this beach. Swans and seagulls, yes, but never egrets.

My daughter also captured a short video of that egret as it dove for fish.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/s74rJTk7cas

I like the following picture. It seems unremarkable but it captures a bather in a moment when he seems unaware of everything around him. Is he looking at a fish? At the water, or maybe at a baby shark. Take note of the picture that follows this one.

My daughter saw four baby sharks that had apparently been killed. By people? The corpses had gashes on their bodies.

Given its size relative to the small stones on the beach, this must have been a very young shark. It's rather stunning to realize there are sharks in the water. On the north shore beaches of Long Island, especially in the bay, we don't hear of shark sightings.

Baby shark on shore:

However, I did find an article from 2024 that explained shark sightings on the Long Island Sound (which abuts Long Island's north shore beaches) have increased in recent years. And on the south shore, the animals are making frequent appearances. Here's a video explaining how a woman was bitten by a shark on the south shore when she was only in waist deep water:

My daughter was lucky on her beach visit to catch sight of a group of rowers as they came to shore. There are a couple of rowing clubs nearby. I'm guessing these rowers belonged to one of those clubs. I tried to post the pictures of the team as it progressed toward shore.

At first they were out at a distance in the bay (Oyster Bay).

You can see an egret in the foreground. As the boat approached, it also came closer to the egret, which seems to notice the approach.

As the boat gets closer the egret changes its stance, but does not leave its post.

This is the neatest shot (below), I think. It looks like there are only seven people carrying the boat, but I believe there were more than that rowing.

I don't have a picture of what the team did with the boat when the finally were on land.

This time of year we see not only bathers, seagulls, and boats near the shore. We also see osprey nests, inevitably on top of light poles or telephone poles. Here is a picture my daughter took that day.

Because the osprey favor the tops of light poles as they build their nests, they presents a problem for the power company. It's against the law in New York State to disrupt nesting ospreys, so the companies get creative when they have a conflict between osprey survival and providing power. Because the ospreys tend to return year after year to the same place, the companies alter the nesting location to make it safe for Osprey and power delivery. Here's a video that explains how they do this:

There are all kinds of avian visitors at the beach. Of course we will predictably encounter seagulls. This one was regarding my daughter directly as she took the shot.

Here is another shot of a seagull. I don't think it's the same one because it looks chubbier than the gull in the previous picture. It also seems to be a bolder bird. In the picture you can see it approaching my daughter's sand-covered toes.

Here is picture of an egret. I'm not sure if this is the same egret we see in the rowing pictures. The scene looks the same, without the rowers. I like the ripples you can see in the foreground. I'm not a boater, or swimmer, but I do remember seeing a young woman try to kayak in these waters. She was struggling against the current. She was out there for a long time, and kept getting pulled further out to sea. A good Samaritan (Town employee?), finally went out in a kayak and slowly guided the errant craft back to shore.

Ordinarily this bay is full of boats. Most of them are small craft. The boat in this picture is larger than usual. Perhaps it is a commercial fishing boat.

When my daughter went to the beach she was not alone. She took her sidekick with her, her beautiful dog. He loves the beach. He loves the water. Unfortunately, other people at the beach bring their dogs unleashed and these can present a problem. Here is our family dog, leash on, as he enjoys sunset at the beach.

All the beach pictures on this page were taken at a beach in the village of Oyster Bay, on the north shore of Long Island. The picture below was taken at Tobay beach, which is also in the Town of Oyster Bay, but it is on the South Shore. If you look at the texture of the sand you can see this beac has finer, less rocky sand. That is characteristic of south shore beaches-a legacy of the Ice Age. When the ice sheet pulled away from the island, its melt washed down the island. Meanwhile it pulled rocks and debris as it retreated. These were left scattered all over the north part of the island.

I'll end with a delightful (to me) video of the family dog frolicking in the water. He is just over a year old now--still inquisitive, still eager to explore. Very much a delight as a fellow resident at home.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ThQhHl6YyOc

I hope your enjoyed these beach pictures. I am certain that before the summer is over I will be able to visit the shore and offer my own experience of the scene through pictures, here on Hive.

Thank you for reading my blog. Peace and health to all.