Archive for Bubble shell
No Regrets Watching The Reddish Egret
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You want another reason why i Love Shelling? Seeing a site like this! This Reddish Egret was wading in a tidal pool at Sanibel Lighthouse Beach pacing back and forth stalking his prey. I could have stood there for an hour watching this entertaining canopy dance. Errrr….. wait, I DID stand there for an hour fascinated by his show of chasing minnows.
Even though it distracted me from finding more shells, I didn’t regret one minute of it. To me, that’s what shelling is about…. finding treasures AND drinking in nature and the view along the way. Even the man made views. How cute!
And yes, there were even shells and SAND DOLLARS too!
I found more of those cute little juvie SAND DOLLAR “sand dimes”! I found live ones down on the surf line which I left alone but I also found them high in the high tide wrack line to bring home. Way in the background you can see the Lighthouse so you can see how far I was from the point. It was a hike but worth it.
I found all sort of BEACH BLING semi hidden in the seaweed. I placed the LEOPARD CRAB SHELL on the purple SEA WHIP but I saw the SAND DOLLAR laying exactly like this…
I zig zagged the beach to look on the edge of the tidal pools to find a clump of BUBBLE SHELLS…
When I see lots of BUBBLES hanging out like that, I immediately start looking for WENTLETRAPS!
This is what I found…. Are you ready CYBER SHELLERS? Now after you take a little CYBER SHELLING stoop by clicking on the next photo to enlarge, make sure you scroll down even more on this post because I have another somethin to show you… a video too. Shell on!
Did you find anything? Okay, before we get to the movie, I want to tell you that I’ve gotten quite a few requests to sell my Seashell Identification Cards online. I want to thank everybody for buying them in the local retail stores that are carrying them and would love for you to continue to support them. But for those of you who can’t be here, I’ve added a BUY NOW button so I can send them directly to you. Check it out by CLICKING HERE…
Okay, back to the movie! Now you will be able to see the low tide tidal pools I was walking through and around to see so many amazing sites during the Easter Holiday weekend. There were so many live STARFISH! They are amazing to watch so enjoy the show!
Beautiful Buried Treasures
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Gabriel found this live STARFISH (BROWN SPINY SEA STAR) on a PEN SHELL at low tide late this morning at the Sanibel Lighthouse beach. His whole family came over to look at it and to ohhh and ahhh so I had to find out what the fuss was about. It’s just beautiful, isn’t it? Yes, I mean the STARFISH is beautiful but also to hear the excitement and amazement of finding life and treasures that come from the sea. That’s beautiful too.
Gabriel, Danielle, Peggy, Paul and Mark
It was such a pleasure to meet this family! They were trying to learn the names of all the shells they were finding so I was thrilled to help them. This was our best find…. an ALPHABET CONE that was semi buried in the sand.
I don’t have photos of all the shells we were finding but here are some of the shell they found that I help identify…
Oh how I’ve missed my walks at the lighthouse beach on Sanibel. Ever since the day light savings time change, I’ve been discombobulated. I like my walks with Clark in the evening but now it gets dark too early for me to wait until he gets home from his office. But now after meeting such an amazing family on the beach today, it got me right in my beach combing time zone again. Here are a couple of my finds….
Most of my finds today were half buried in the sand like this half buried perfect ANGEL WING.
This LIGHTNING WHELK was perfectly empty too but I almost missed it since only this much of it was showing. More buried treasure.
This morning started off my weekend with a smile so I hope I can pass it along to you too. Have a great weekend!
Seashells Open Your Eyes
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The other day, shelling sistah Tricia G asked me if I’ve ever found a MARGINELLA on Sanibel since I don’t have one listed on the SEASHELL IDENTIFICATION page. I’ve found them before but, come to think about it, I sure haven’t found one in a long time. So last night, we headed for the lighthouse because I was on the hunt for that sneaky MARGINELLA. To double my chances, I reminded Super Sheller Clark that I wanted to find one to add to the I.D. page so I told him to be on the lookout too.
Marginella
Yippee! I found one!….. er…..well…. Clark found it. He was scooping at the surf line when all the sudden I hear him laugh. “Look what I found”.
Marginellas and a broken dove
Then he found another one! And then yes, I found that little one on the right. Whew- I wasn’t completely out-shelled. Keep in mind, the biggest one is just shy of 1/2 inch and they sort of look like a BUBBLE if the aperture side is down so they aren’t easy to find. I found the broken one on the left too so I added it to the photo since I thought it was the same shell.
Marginella and Dove? aperture
Dang it! That shell on the left really doesn’t even look like a MARGINELLA at all since it has those teeth on the lip. I couldn’t even see those teeth until I took the picture and looked at it on the computer. In the last few years I can’t even look at my phone or a menu without holding them as far as my arms will extend. You know what I mean? Ha! Geez. Oh well, I’ve been fortunate so far with my eyes so I shouldn’t complain….. it’s just weird…. I’m just sayin. 
Alright, back to the shell…. I think the broken shell on the far left is a DOVE shell just by what’s left of it but I could be wrong (I gotta get back to trusting my own eyes again- yikes!). It’s not like I can where “readers” on the beach…. maybe? ….. nahhhh.
Brown banded wentletrap
I didn’t need glasses to spot this BROWN-BAND WENTLETRAP though. Love that color running through it!
Brown banded wentletrap aperture
Nancy from Seashell Wreaths by Nancy reminded me that the name WENTLETRAP is derived from a Dutch word meaning spiral staircase.
Wentletrap staircases
We were on the mini shell hunt so we ran across lots of the BUBBLE shells…. appropriately named as well….
Bubble shells
We found lots of AUGERS which again, look like their name…
Augers
So how about SHARP-RIB DRILL? That flat rib or blade off the sides is pretty sharp, huh?
Sharp-rib Drills
Now this is getting funny! I didn’t plan on dissecting common names of shells tonight but it’s kind of fun, right? So let’s look at the KEYHOLE LIMPET…..
Keyhole Limpet
….and the BUTTON shell….
Button shell
This CONE shell certainly looks like an ice cream cone….
Dusky Cone
But I’m not sure that this RICE OLIVE shell looks like an olive but it sure looks like rice…
Rice Olive
Picture this next shell on top of Barbie’s doll head… yep, it’s a TURBAN. Again, I just thought this shell was pretty and knobby. I didn’t realize it had a hole in it and the barnacles attached…the eyes are going! Oh well, it’s still pretty.
Chestnut Turban
We had our eyes (failing or not) focused on finding a special miniature shell by looking for the particular pattern of a MARGINELLA and we found it. We shell this beach on the east end of Sanibel regularly but we’ve probably walked right by hundreds of them just because we have been focused on other patterns of shells that we see on a regular basis. i Love Shelling. I really do because it opens my eyes to see beautiful things that I normally would never appreciate.
Our Sanibel lighthouse shells last night
Snowy Egret
Sanibel pier sunset
My Family Visits The Island
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It couldn’t have been a more perfect weekend. The sun was shining, temps in the 80s, low humidity, shells in the surf….. and the very best part….. my family came to visit!!!
Greg and Tee!
My brother and I grew up spending our summers on the beach at Sandbridge in Virginia Beach and vacationing on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The beach is in our blood so it’s a good thing we both found spouses that have that sand running through their blood too. My sister-in-law (the best a sister could ask for!) is all about the beach too so the first thing after the whole gang got here ….. we hit the beach.
Becky finding minis
Our friend Becky (and part of the family) was the first one to find out how glorious the miniature shell finds can be.
She found oodles of WENTLETRAPS, BUTTONS and BUBBLES scattered all along the Lighthouse beach on Saturday.
Clark and Greg in the shelling zone scooping up the mini shells.
This was exactly how one pile from their scooper looked after Clark or Greg dumped it on the beach for us to sift through. Go ahead, click on the photo above for some virtual shelling! How many WENTLETRAPS did you find?
My cutie niece Kelly spying some seashells too. I miss her already.
This was a mixed bag of minis after getting rinsed at home . Click on that photo too- you’ll love this virtual shelling too!
On Sunday we started the day on the Captiva side at Blind Pass and Becky was thrilled with sittin’ and siftin’ in the shell pile by the jetty.
Looky what I found! Dang! It’s not a whole JUNONIA but I’ll take it. This was good but it wasn’t even the best “part” of a shell found. Look what Clark found…..
A piece of a DEER COWRIE! This seashell isn’t even native to our area but last week I showed another piece that Donnie found on my post last week and a whole one February 15.
We walked over the bridge to the Sanibel side of Blind Pass and saw lots of new shells washing up. I can’t believe what Clark plucked out of the water near the pilings of the bridge….
A SCOTCH BONNET! The man is a Super Sheller!
Okay, it was cracked on the other side ….but still! Since I found part of a JUNONIA too, all we needed to complete the Elite Three was to find a LION”S PAW. Would the DEER COWRIE count?
He also found this ALTERNATE TELLIN and …
This beautiful SUNRAY VENUS.
Greg tried two scoops of seashells to better his chances. LOL
Tee’s in the shelling zone too.
Becky and her daughter (and Kelly’s best friend) Maddy. Do they still say “BFF”…or was so last year?
There were plenty of COCKLES, FIGHTING CONCHS, WHELKS, MUREXES and DOSINIAS along with so many other shells to take home with them. Shelling Success for the family!
To My Mini Friends
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Small shells at the lighthouse on Sanibel Island
After going to every beach on Captiva today and finding nothing, we headed to the east end to shell at the lighthouse. The minis never disappoint. Look how cute! There are all sorts….BABY’S EARS, WENTLETRAPS, BUBBLES, DRILLS, TULIPS, a BUTTON and more. I couldn’t really get the angle on the tiny NUTMEG (the second to the last shell on the bottom row) that Clark found but it is perfectly adorable too.
Sailboat at sunset on Sanibel Island
Cool fishing chick at the lighthouse
Oh yeah, I saw some awesome manatees in Captiva so i’ll have a video to show you tomorrow or Monday. They are so funny!
61 Wentletraps at Lighthouse
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The Wentletrap Wonder
That’s The Wentletrap Wonder…. The Mini-shell Master…. The Shelling Superman…uhhh, ok, it’s just my husband, Clark, shelling for the mini shells. But we found 61 WENTLETRAPS this afternoon! And lots of other really good minis. We always find a lot of BUBBLE shells but this one was a little unusual- it’s an ANTILLES GLASSY BUBBLE. It is so paper thin that it’s see-through.
Clark's Antilles Glassy Bubble and Wentletrap
We ended up finding (and keeping) 4 more BABY’S EARS, a bright orange baby HORSE CONCH, WORM SHELLS, PEAR WHELKS, a bright orange FALSE DRILL, 2 FLORIDA CONES and of course our 61 WENTLETRAPS.
False Drill
Wentletrap
Pear Whelk
Can you guess who was back at the Lighthouse too? “Flipper”, that crazy dolphin!
