November 13, 2016

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A quiet afternoon on a very clean beach with few visitors: approx. 8 people and  3 dogs, all leashed. A couple of big chunks of cliff had come down, one just N of the campground’s N stairs and the other within the first quarter-mile S of the campground. Moderate quantities of tube worm casings in the drift line; negligible manmade debris. There were a moderate number of gulls scattered along the beach, along with a few crows. At the back of the beach in the soft sand, some white/gray/black plover-size birds were hanging out, alternately flying short distances and nestling into the sand chest first. When I saw their behavior I immediately thought of killdeer. I wasn’t aware they ever occurred here, but a friend said they could have been migrating through.  About three quarters of a mile S of the campground I found a mysterious (to me) object resting on a natural shelf in the cliff. Its shape reminded me of a ray, but its surface was rigid — my best guess is that it was the carapace of some sea creature. It was maybe 7-8” long and 5-6” wide. Sorry, photos would not upload.