Jennifer Steen Booher

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  • Hidden among deep piles of wrack along the high tide line I found a decomposing sea bird. There wasn't enough left to identify it, but perhaps someday I'll learn enough to recognize these feathers.
    _DSC4701-Edit2-PR12.jpg
  • Hidden among deep piles of wrack along the high tide line I found a decomposing sea bird. There wasn't enough left to identify it, but perhaps someday I'll learn enough to recognize these feathers.
    Beachcombing-series-42.jpg
  • DSC_0591-Edit.jpg
  • DSC_0589-Edit.jpg
  • DSC_0565-Edit.jpg
  • DSC_0590-Edit.jpg
  • Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) landing on a rocky beach, Maine
    SeagullLanding_edited-1.JPG
  • Seabird feathers found on the beaches of Mount Desert Island, Maine
    Feathers8848square.jpg
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  • The day was overcast and damp, about 42ºF with a brisk offshore wind out of the north. Occasional shafts of sunlight would break through and shimmer briefly on the wet stones. The gulls, my winter companions, weren't as raucous as usual, but creaky, like old doors. <br />
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Waved Whelk (Buccinum undatum), Green Crab (Carcinus maenas), Northern Rock Barnacle (Balanus balanoides), fishing rope, Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis), bird bone, driftwood, sea glass, feather, Soft-shell Clam (Mya arenaria), pottery, Dog Whelk (Nucella lapillus), Green Sea Urchin (Strongylocentrotus drobachiensis), sea coal, metal widget, schist beach stone.
    Beachcombing-series-55.jpg
  • Top to bottom, left to right:<br />
<br />
Row 1: Foliose lichen (possibly Tuckermannopsis sp.), sea glass, Rockweed (Ascophyllum nodosum), Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea), broken bottle neck (not sea glass)<br />
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Row 2: Common Periwinkles, Paper Birch bark (Betula papyrifera), slightly weathered bit of broken glass, periwinkle<br />
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Row 3: Common Periwinkles, broken glass, acorn (Quercus sp.), tampon applicator, Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis)<br />
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Row 4: Common Periwinkles, bird leg bone, periwinkles<br />
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Row 5: Rockweed<br />
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Row 6: Common Periwinkle, Soft-shell Clam (Mya arenaria), periwinkles<br />
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Back story<br />
The Asticou Stream Trail starts just across Peabody Drive from the Azalea Garden and winds down to the harbor through a little stream valley. It’s not a long trail – I think if you walked straight through you’d reach the shore in 10 minutes. I, of course, rarely manage to walk straight through anywhere. I poke fungi with sticks to see if they are solid or spongy, I look hard at footprints and scat to see what creatures have passed before me, and of course, I take photographs of everything. Since it was January, that meant lots of photos of frozen waterfalls and icicles. When I finally reached the shore, it was dead low tide and the mudflats were glinting in all their icy glory. <br />
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There are definite challenges to winter beachcombing – things are frozen to the ground, but the mud flats are still semi-liquid, like a Slurpee - so you sink deep.. You have to pull your gloves off to pull things out of the icy water or mud, dry your fingers as fast as possible on the inside of your pocket, and get the gloves back on before the cold soaks too deep into your bones. Of course there are rewards, too. Ice formations you’ll only see on an outgoing tide as the temperature nears zero. The undivided attention of every herring gull in the cove. And solitude – in January, the shore belongs to you.
    CoastWalk19.jpg
  • Ivory, white and cream: Stimpson Whelk (Colus stimpsoni), sea gull feather (probably a Herring Gull), and two bird bones.
    Beachcombing-series-41.jpg
  • Top to bottom, left to right:<br />
Waved Whelk (Buccinum undatum), blue bottle top, 2 Dog Whelks (Nucella lapillus), blue plastic straw, 4 tiny crab legs, green sea glass, 2 Dog Whelks, crab claw, 2 broken Waved Whelks, bird leg bone, 8 Blue Mussels (Mytilus edulis), 8 Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea), juvenile White-tailed Deer skull (Odocoileus virgininus), Jonah Crab (Cancer borealis), Rock Crab (Cancer irroratus), lobster claw (Homarus americanus), 2 Common Periwinkle, lobster trap rope, balloon and ribbon, spruce cones (Picea sp.), Rock Crab, Jonah Crab, sea glass, Jonah Crab, Green Crab (Carcinus maenas), orange plastic straw, 2 green crabs, shotgun cartridge, 2 broken Dog Whelks, Old Man’s Beard lichen (Usnea sp.)
    Beachcombing-series-93.jpg
  • Two lobstermen toss sea urchins out of a lobster trap as a hungry seagull lands on the stern of their boat.
    LobsterBoat1397.jpg
  • A blue and white lobster boat sails across a calm sea as hungry seagulls follow in its wake, hoping to steal some bait.
    LobsterBoat1383.jpg
  • A grand old hotel once stood on this bluff, and very likely dumped its trash onto the beach. New trash is depressing, but old dumps are paradise for beachcombers and archaeologists. <br />
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Driftwood, sea glass, granite and schist beach stones, Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis), industrial ceramic cover, possibly from the Bryant Electric Co. (1888-present), porcelain, bird bones, seafood industry label, lobster-claw band, Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea), soda can pull tab, and plastic lighter.
    -Campobello-5.jpg
  • A skeptical-looking sea gull eyes the camera with disdain.
    SeagullOgunquit182.jpg
  • February is a grey month here in Maine so when the sun finally peeked out from behind the clouds I headed right down to my favorite collecting beach to enjoy the rays while they lasted. By the time I got there it was overcast again and the wind had started to pick up. When it started to snow, I moved under the pier.<br />
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Driftwood riddled with shipworm holes, sea glass, oyster shell, beach stones, bird leg bone, seaweed, metal fork, spring, metal spoon, plastic knife handle, soda can tab, toothbrush, guitar pick, and miscellaneous plastic scraps.
    Beachcombing-series-27.jpg
  • In the winter I beachcomb alone, but in the summer, it's a family affair. Lamoine Beach didn't have enough sand to make my daughter happy, nor enough waves and climbing rocks to please my son. Beachcombing wasn't too bad, but I didn't have long there.<br />
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Grass seed heads, schist beach stones, Waved Whelk (Buccinum undatum), feathers of four different bird species, Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis), and driftwood.
    Beachcombing-series-48.jpg
  • Herring Gulls (Larus argentatus) squawking on the beach.
    Ogunquit9939.jpg
  • A Herring Gull studies the camera on the Town Pier, Bar Harbor, Maine.
    _DSC4897-Edit3.jpg
  • A flock of seagulls wheels behind a lobster boat, waiting for scraps of bait.
    LobsterBoat1409.jpg
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  • Semipalmated Plovers (Charadrius semipalmatus), Hulls Cove, Maine.
    Plovers_4882.jpg
  • A Herring Gull prepares for flight on the beach at Ogunquit, Maine.
    SeagullOgunquit196PR.jpg
  • Side view of a gull walking on a sandy beach.
    SeagullOgunquit189.jpg
  • Seagull in profile with sandy beach background.
    SeagullOgunquit190PR.jpg
  • Seagull in profile with sandy beach background.
    SeagullOgunquit185.jpg
  • A grumpy-looking Herring Gull walks straight toward the camera.
    SeagullOgunquit177.jpg
  • Herring Gull walking along a beach at the water's edge.
    Ogunquit0153.jpg
  • A juvenile Herring Gull sitting on a sandy beach.
    Ogunquit9949.jpg
  • LobsterBoat1410.jpg
  • Semipalmated Plovers (Charadrius semipalmatus), Hulls Cove, Maine.
    Plovers_4885.jpg
  • Two Herring Gulls strut across a sandy beach.
    SeagullOgunquit180.jpg
  • A Herring Gull walking along a beach at the water's edge.
    Ogunquit0150.jpg
  • A Herring Gull investigates the camera.
    SeagullOgunquit178.jpg
  • Top to Bottom, Left to Right: driftwood, weathered fiberglass, driftwood, feather, seaweed holdfast, plastic-coated wire, Irish Moss (Chondrus crispus). weathered fiberglass, Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea), seaweed with holdfast, Jonah Crab (Cancer borealis), beach stone, Fucus sp. attached to barnacle (Semibalanus balanoides), bird bone, Common Periwinkle, driftwood, beach stones, seaweed (some kinf of kelp) partially covered with bryozoan colony.
    _CoastWalk6.jpg
  • Two lobstermen haul traps on a beautiful spring day as a flock of seagulls circle, hoping for leftovers.
    FishingBoat1441.jpg
  • From left to right, top to bottom:<br />
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1. sea glass, die-cast toy truck, sea glass, Common Periwinkle (Littorina littorea), Razor Clam (Ensis directus)<br />
2. ceramic electrical fixture, granite beach stone, porcelain shard, Common Eider skull (Somateria mollissima), ceramic spark plug, Soft-shelled Clam (Mya arenaria)<br />
3. more periwinkles, Northern Rock Barnacle clump (Semibalanus balanoides), two Dog Whelks (Nucella lapillus), driftwood, two Common Periwinkle<br />
4. seaweed – I’m not so good with marine algae, but I think it’s Rockweed (Fucus distichus), sea glass, Green Crab (Carcinus maenas), sea glass, bird leg bone<br />
5. more sea glass, Common Eider spine, aluminum soda can tab, Blue Mussel (Mytilus edulis), fabric flower, copper doohickey (maybe part of a hose)<br />
6. Moon snail (Lunatia heros), more periwinkles, styrofoam packing peanut, another Blue Mussel, plastic spoon, lobster-claw band, plastic earpiece from sunglasses, sea glass, and an oyster shell (the shape looks like Ostrea edulis, a.k.a. the European flat oyster, which means it was most likely farmed, not wild)
    _CoastWalk1.jpg