White-nose Syndrome in Bats

If you have been reading about this disease that has been decimating bats in the U.S. (killing more than a million), they have finally identified the organsim, which hopefully will lead to treatment. Read more about it here.

Back to the Beach

Most folks feel that time at the beach is spent only during the summer months. Not us. Anytime at the beach, even during the fall and winter months is welcome. Beachcombing seems to be also better during these off season months. Has something to do with the change in tides and such.

We spent the past weekend there, which even though it's the end of October the temps got close to 80. Typical Southeast Texas climate. I was able to walk the surf for several hours and it was a ton better than our last trip in July. The shelled areas were perfect for trapping shark's teeth as well as sea glass.

By the end of the afternoon I hand a good handfull of seas glass of various colors. Mostly brown was found, which is the predominant color. It mostly comes from beer bottles. I also found some light green glass (coca cola bottles), darker green (7-Up, sprite, and wine bottles), a few cobalt blue (Vick's, milk of magnesia bottles), and a single piece of purple (perfume bottle?). I also found several pieces of petrified bone and a piece of a crab's claw. What was really exciting though was the 16 shark's teeth that I found.

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