Winter returned to the Land of Ooze. No snow nor sleet nor freezing rain just plain cold. The thermometer registered 41 degrees as I climbed the barrier dune to reach Blackfish Creek and face a stiff 15-knot wind blowing off the North Atlantic out of the northeast. I'll let you do the wind chill calculations. So, the sleeping beauties remain sleeping, but the poor critters that have already popped out of brumation are enduring some challenging moments.
Nothing seems to stop the horseshoe crabs, though.
Pairs locked in mating bliss flowed through the channel and cozied up to emerging sandbars to lay eggs. I didn't expect and hoped not to find many turtles out and about this morning. So, I was not surprised that no heads popped up for most of the tidal flow. But nearing ebb, I saw one female struggling through the rip. So cold and sluggish was she, that as she tried to propel herself through the rapids, she flipped completely upside down.