21 November 2010

Delaware Shore-Part I



I finally had a chance to get out to the Delaware coast on Saturday.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous; sunny but cool and windy, such that I got away with keeping my long underwear on all day.  Classic fall weather!  I started the morning before sunrise at Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge and worked my way down the coast to finish the day at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes.  I got to see and most importantly hear plenty of snow geese (nothing says Fall to me like the sound of geese flying overhead), as well as plenty of other wildlife.  However, the scenery really stold the show photographically on this trip.  The sunrise, which I greeted on a small brackish pond off of the marsh boardwalk trail, was spectacular and the sunset at Cape Henlopen was even more beautiful.  The sand flats were exposed at Cape Henlopen Point and I really got a kick out of photographing the sand ripples left by the shrinking tide in the side lighting of sunset.  I also got a kick out of discovering the huge amount of scientific literature on sand ripples.  The physics of how they form; what they can indicate about wave height, periodicity, and currents; and how fossil ripples can be used to infer ancient water movements.  As I said previously, I ended the day with a gorgeous sunset and twilight at Cape Henlopen (by sunset I had the beach to myself too) and hiked out by the light of an almost full moon.  Here are a few of my favorite images from the day; more to come later this week. 


Delaware Shore Nov 20 - Images by Elijah Goodwin

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