Shore Birds

I'm about the only person I know that loves to watch the gulls at the beach. 

They are sneaky, smart and fearless. 

Before our beach trip I learned that the Cape May/Avalon area is a major hub for bird migration. 

More info:

Cape May Bird Observatory

Avalon Sea Watch

While I didn't see anything out of the ordinary,

 I did get some nice shots of gulls, pipers and even some swans.

The gull below was doing a little dance in the water to dredge up food. 

It was really funny to watch.

I love to watch the sand pipers run back and forth.

Escape to the beach...

I was getting tired of my old burg this week and felt the need to smell some sea air and jump in the ocean. On a whim we decided to pick up my husband's mom and head down to the shore in Delaware.
I hadn't been to Cape Henlopen in a few years so that's where we decided to go. It's a lovely little state park, cheap to get in and very family friendly.
I absolutely love the beach and if I won the lottery, I would buy a house at the shore immediately:)
Here are just a few photos (can you guess, I'm a big fan of sea gulls).





Whoa, that's a lot of pelicans. I don't remember seeing pelicans at the beach when I was a kid. Maybe I didn't know what they were. I see them all the time now.

I won't be blogging much in the next week. My sister is getting married tomorrow and we're going on a mini vacation to visit and old friend in Oneonta, NY. I think it will be the first time my daughter gets to see mountains, how fun!
Take care, Jen :^)

Back from the beach...

When I'm on vacation my two favorite things to see are native animals and art.
The artwork that was my absolute favorite was a 1902 fully restored Herschell-Spillman carousel with 45 hand carved wooden animals of all shapes and sizes. The horses even had real horse hair tails! It is one of the oldest in the United States.
My 2 1/2 year old daughter was fascinated with the sea dragon and had to ride it twice despite my urging to try one of the animals that went up and down.

This gorgeous piece of history is housed in the Trimper
Amusement Park at the begining of the Ocean City, MD boardwalk.










The two other fun things at the beach are wild ponies on Assateague and sea gulls. I think I must be the only person that loves seagulls but I get a big kick out of feeding them and listening to their calls. I didn't have much time to spend with the ponies but I caught a glimpse of these two young stallions by the water.








Okay, now that the fun is over I am back to painting on Monday!
Jen