a shared beach
The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is a wonderful place to walk along the ocean and along inland waters.
The entire beach closes on April 1st each year to support the nesting season of endangered piping plovers and least terns. The biologists determined that most of the protected birds are finished with the beach for the season, with some tern chicks hanging out near the lot 2 boardwalk, a few off of lot 1, and one chick a bit south of lot 3. Yesterday the beach was reopened from just north of lot 3 to the southern tip of Plum Island with some fencing added to protect the chick south of lot 3.
I arrived at Parker River this morning about an hour before low tide, leaving my car at lot 3, following the boardwalk to the beach. I walked south, listening to the sound of the ocean, looking at the water, at the shape of the beach, at the sand dunes heading inland. I watched sea gulls and sandpipers walking near the water's edge. I looked up to see sea birds flying.
