Denise Goldberg's blog

Sunday, August 25, 2013

humans welcome!

After discovering yesterday that the land I was looking at from Halibut Point was Plum Island I decided to check the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge web site for the status of the beach. It closes each year on April 1st, reopening when the piping plovers nesting season is completed. I've been there in September in past years when the beach was still closed so I was quite surprised to find that the entire beach was open (to people) as of Friday. I couldn't resist so I headed to Parker River this morning.

I backtracked from parking log 3 to 2 when I found lot 3 was full. I wanted some shots of the inland side of the refuge in between the two parking lots so I walked back along the road before taking the long boardwalk to the beach. At the end of the boardwalk I found clumps of people enjoying the beach. I headed south along the ocean's edge where I very quickly found myself walking alone, enjoying the sound of the ocean. When I turned for the return walk I followed a trio of sanderlings as they skittered along the waters edge, taking to flight as the waves came too close, then landing and skittering once again.

What a nice way to spend a morning!

from a quiet ocean beach to inland waters wearing changing colors...

a walk on an empty beach, at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge

on the inland side of the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge, changing colors

The first 16 photos in the gallery Parker River - 2013 are from today.