Category Archives: Emma Wood State Beach

Low Tide at Emma Wood ~ Birds and Shells

Dear and I started our walk at Emma Wood this morning well before 7:00 am. I love the colors that the early morning light reflect on the sand and water.

There were many sea birds enjoying breakfast from diving in the water and digging in the sand.

I was pleasantly surprised to capture this pelican and the head of this seal who bobbed up just at the moment I took the shot. Not a clear close-up but it’s always a treat to see seals or dolphins come up out of the water…

The Godwits were abundant as were Sanderlings.

The tide was out far enough so that we could explore around the rocks and see Anemones and gather lots of great shells.

 

These are the shells we picked up this morning. Some of the clam shells are pismo clams. Dear found a razor clam shell and a barnacle, too.

I really like the different shapes and colors on all of these shells we picked up…

The Beach at Dawn

Welcome to the 2nd Outdoor Wednesday hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. This past weekend Dear and I spent a lot of time on several different beaches in California. These dawn photos are taken at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura, California on Saturday morning.

Being walkers with the dawn and morning,

Walkers with the sun and morning,

We are not afraid of night,

Nor days of gloom,

Nor darkness–

Being walkers with the sun and morning.

– Langston Hughes

Visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer to view more Outdoor Wednesday posts.

 

High Tide at Emma Wood State Beach!

Dear and I returned to our favorite Saturday walk last weekend and we were in for a fun surprise. The Tide was so high that there was no sand to be seen. The waves were so powerful we heard the large rocks and bolders moving and hitting each other when the waves receded. We had to watch our steps so that we didn’t get sprayed by the waves that hit the beach walls and rocks.

We were experiencing Santana winds again over the weekend so the wind really whipped out and caused some spray off the waves.

Then when a wave would recede and hit the next wave coming in we got a big treat with an explosion of spray!

It was difficult to snap at the right time to make sure I captured the great spray.

Yippee I got this one without getting soaked!

The birds were patiently waiting for the tide to go out so they could dig for their food in the sand…

Psalm 89: 8, 9 ~ “O Lord God Almighty, who is like you? You are mighty, O Lord, and your faithfulness surrounds you. You rule over the surging sea; when its waves mount up, you still them.”

Emma Wood Beach in November

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR PINK SATURDAY…

Dear and I headed up to Emma Wood State Beach early Saturday morning. It’s been several weeks since we’ve done our favorite walk and it was great to be back…

It was High Tide so we had very few steps directly on the sand.

The Fall/Winter birds were back in town. We saw lots of Godwits and Sanderlings. We saw so many Pelicans but they were all far from my camera and moving in formation across the water…

When I was Little My Mother Gave Me Castor Oil

Were you ever given Castor Oil? Saturday on our walk at Emma Wood State Beach in Ventura we found a Castor Bush with clusters of seed pods. When we opened up the pods we found these Castor Seeds. These are what they make Castor Oil from.

We also saw and smelled the Fennel plants. Sweet Fennel is so much more appealing  than Castor oil. I’m not sure what the second yellow plant is and the sweet lavender colored plant is either. It was another great early morning walk on the beach with wonderful views of God’s creation all around us. This next shot was a special treat for us as we walked back to our starting point.

I’ll be posting more photos from this walk. We saw other herons, godwits, and gulls, all together but this heron seemed to be standing alone for us to appreciate.