If you walk along the ocean beaches on Cape Cod, you are sure to see seals swimming along the shore, diving in and out of the waves. I’ve seen a lot of seals at Coast Guard Beach and Nauset Beach in the past few days.
If you walk all the way to Nauset Spit at low tide from either Nauset Beach or Coast Guard Beach, you can see what I call “seal island.” It is a sand bar, not too far from shore, that the seals pile on at low tide. You can hear their distinctive sounds from quite far away.
This 2nd photograph was taken from the end of Coast Guard Beach a few days ago.
I have seen snails such as this one at Fort Hill before, but always on the ground near the trail. This one really caught my eye as it was high (about 5’up) in one of the bushes on the side of the trail. I wondered how it got there, but then I saw that it was attached to the leaf. It must have made its own way up. Wow!
In the 2nd photograph, can you find the snail on the leaf in the center of the picture? Amazing that it was able to make its way up there on such small branches and leaves.
Yesterday morning I got a frantic call from one of my neighbors saying that there was a Box Turtle stuck in the window well under her deck and she couldn’t get it out. She had called several places but no one had returned her call and she had no idea how long it had been in there. Please come and help! I couldn’t go so I sent Phil to the rescue.
When she had gone down in the basement that morning, she heard a light tapping sound. She thought it was the vent from the dryer but it kept tapping and it wasn’t near the dryer. She looked around and there was a beautiful Box Turtle stuck in her window well, tapping on the window, but the window well was under the deck so she couldn’t get to it from outside.
She and Phil got the built-up sand out of the window track and were finally able to open it. Phil reached in with his gloves on while Wendy held the box. He was able to place the turtle in the box. They then brought it outside and released it where Wendy had seen some turtle nests in her yard a while back.
Kudos to Wendy and Phil for saving this beautiful turtle!
You can tell where the turtle nests are at the Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary by the little cages around them and the blue flag. The species in each cage is also identified. I saw some Painted Turtle cages and some Diamondback Terrapin nests.
It will be very interesting when the little ones hatch and try to make it back to the waters of Cape Cod Bay. I remember last year seeing some of them which the volunteers had collected to help them on their way and they were tiny, only about an inch.
Have you seen the nest cages at the Sanctuary? Or anywhere else?
I saw my first seal of the season at Coast Guard Beach the other day. There were quite a few of them in the water, so the water must be warming up a bit. The latest I heard was that the water was 54 degrees. Brrrr…
Cute little guy, don’t you think?
Cape Cod daily articles on the wonderful Cape Cod places to hike, experience and photograph. A Cape Cod Outdoor Adventure Series.
