She Took Pictures of the Ghost Crabs for You All

I was surprised she got out of bed today. After yesterday's yucky procedure, my fantasy author, Sandy Lender, was quite full of pain medication and "droopy" last night. But she got out to the beach for sea turtle patrol this morning and got these pictures for everyone to see. These are the ghost crabs she wishes to skewer (in fact, she said that to the first one she saw, hence we have a picture of its backside as it is up fleeing).

She informs me the first one here is a relatively small crab, as if I didn't grow up next to an ocean in my world.

The second one, sitting in some man's sandal footprint is a bit bigger. At first, she thought it might be dead because it didn't move as she approached it. But when she moved to place her own sandal next to it for "scope", it jumped up and scurried into the surf. It certainly looked bigger standing...but not as dead.

And you all have seen pictures of the ghost crab burrows in past posts. Sandy goes around filling those in around the turtle nests to annoy the crabs and encourage them to find better places to take up residence.

On a bizarre note, she passed a bird that had nested in the middle of the beach so she called that in. She didn't get a good picture of it because the bird became quite agitated (understandably) when she walked by. (What's that?) Oh, yes, Sandy says the bird ruffled up in bird language for "There's nothing to see here; just keep moving along." She's convinced it was a Bonaparte's Gull, which has a stable population. (Seems they'd be a bit less stable if they keep laying their eggs out in the middle of the beach like that.)

That's all for a writer's life for today. I think she's about to nap...

Tags: fantasy author, Sandy Lender, sea turtle, ghost crab