Nature Corner: Journey to Cape May, NJ

Two weekends ago, I went to New Jersey. If that surprises anyone, then you may want to check yourself. New Jersey is awesome. I was visiting my pal Len (see radiowires on Flickr) who is notorious for finding abandoned structures and for his side-splitting humor. A weekend with Len turned up the following discoveries:

Horseshoe crabs: I learned that although the male looks like he’s doing something suspicious in this pic, he’s actually just hitching a ride onto the shore. Seriously. The female is the larger of the two, or should I say, stronger? Anyway, the male climbs on her back to catch a ride onto the beach, then once on the shore, she lays her eggs and he fertilizes them.


Brant Geese: we spotted a few flocks of these geese floating in the tides, snacking on little weeds and grasses. I learned that these migrants actually prefer the upper arctic reaches, and were just migrating through the Jersey area. They are a little smaller than the Canada goose.


Religion: Yes, little religious dioramas do exist in New Jersey. Here’s the holy family, right near a dock.


Skate Carcass: This is the carcass of a skate. Skates and rays are in the same family, the main difference being their teeth and their tails. Rays have a little stinging thing on their tail. Skates don’t. Also Skates have teeth more like a sharks, but not as sharp and scary, and a lot smaller. So I guess they really aren’t like a sharks. But they do grow in rows.


Rusted Nautical Thing: This is a little chunk of a larger rusted barge that we found while searching for a better fishing spot. Usually when Ali sees these pics, she reminds me to get my tetanus shot.


Black Drum: I caught this guy while I was trying to catch something else. Isn’t that always how it goes? Well, I was going to keep this guy for supper, but I had a change of heart and decided to let him go. I had some steak instead. Black Drum are cool because some sea dogs talk about huge schools of drum making so much noise that it sounds like a great rumbling roll of thunder under the ocean. Yeah, I thought that was cool too.