MAY DAYS!The beautiful spring weather continues, though we did have a touch
of frost one night. Now it is May and wildflowers are celebrating.
I drove into Totman Cove Preserve very slowly in order to absorb
the flowers along the way. There are patches of Fawn Lily everywhere
and white Anemones require a closer look. It is just amazing how
things have emerged and now producing floral components. I parked
and went down to the beach where one clammer was digging for his
livelihood. I picked my way out as the water from North Creek
was still flowing out to sea. Later, as the tide changes, the
salty water will flow in to bring cover to the hungry clams. Those
mollusks need water to filter out their food. It was fun looking
for holes and disturbances in the moist sand. My first find was
a small Moon Snail that had dug to hide from the gulls who, like
me, were checking out holes! I saw another mound of disturbed
sand and dug to expose a Green Crab loaded with orange eggs! She
tried to fight me off with her pinchers. I took a few pictures
with other interesting sea life, then covered her with her precious
cargo. I dug several Surf Clams and managed to pull out one Razor
Clam. I found Hermit Crabs which have been scarce all through
the winter.
Later,
I hiked into the campground, primarily to see if there were toad
eggs where I had seen them previously in the Lily Pond. I found
their strings of eggs on the east side but alarmingly, many appeared
ready to dry up. The eggs were laid in shallow water and the pond
has reduced its size in recent dry days. I tried to scoop them
in
to deeper water,
which wasn't an easy task. I looked for eggs where I had netted
the Toads on Sunday, but found none. Of course, that is a large
pond and I didn't check all areas. I'm getting very protective
of toads after their spending time with me.