sharing

The birds have decided to share part of their beach.

The Parker River National Wildlife Refuge is a nesting place for the endangered piping plover. To protect the birds, the entire beach in the refuge closes on April 1st each year for the nesting season, reopening after the birds are done with it. This week the section of the beach heading south from parking lot 6 was reopened. While most of the beach remains closed, that small piece was enough to entice me to head out for a low tide beach walk.

The closed signs have been moved from the edge of the refuge to the beach entrance from parking lot 6.

There were many birds sharing the beach with humans. I saw gulls sitting still, walking, flying, and I saw sanderlings skittering across the wet sand close to the water.

It felt wonderful to walk on the beach; many thanks to the birds for sharing their space with me!

More photos from yesterday's walk can be seen in the gallery Parker River, and... 2018 starting with this photo and ending here.