Beach Report 11/16/25

A cool, blue sky day with no wind to speak of. This is confirmation that the Buffies are back.

Speaking of which, on the way bay, I was going over one of the groins along the way, and there, just below me, was a Buffie, sitting on the shore. 

I've never seen one come ashore before, so I tried to sneak up and grab him and check to see if it was injured.

But he got back into the water as I approached, and then flew off a short way. If he was hurt, he wasn't too hurt to fly. 

Not a great day for shark's teeth, only 5, but I did find a couple of interesting bones. One is clearly a small vertebra, probably a dolphin of some sort. I'm not even willing to guess what the other is, it's pretty worn, but it's long, and has one end with a termination. 

A little further along I found this Whistle-pig, aka Groundhog wandering around. 

It was clearly aware of me, but walked past anyway, even though it could have ducked into the brush.

I have no idea what this means regarding the length of winter. 
 

It's Important to Believe the Right Groundhog

Bet against him

 NOAA is Grading the groundhogs

Groundhog Day has been celebrated in the United States since at least February 2, 1886. Starting in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, with its now-famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, the tradition spread throughout America. It is now celebrated all over, and not just with groundhogs. There are also other weather-predicting animals (and stuffed toys), including a duck, an alligator and even a fish!

These furry critters are usually looked to for fun rather than real forecasts. If you’re looking for the real deal, you can find the National Weather Service’s expected long-term forecast here.

Nineteen groundhogs and alternative groundhogs have been selected to participate in this competition, based on the following qualifications:

1. They must have been prognosticating for at least 20 years.
2. They must be active prognosticators as of February 2, 2024.

These groundhogs — along with a tortoise, whose emergence from his winter brumation (hibernation for reptiles) foretells the coming of Spring, and a Prairie dog statue, whose shadow at sunrise predicts how long it will be until Spring arrives — have been graded and ranked based on their accuracy over the past 20 years, using the March temperature averages for the U.S. each year from 2005 to 2024. You can find more information on the contestants hereoffsite link.

I'll skip over the autobiographies and go straight to the results:

I find it amusing that the most famous, Punxsatawney Phil, is near the bottom of the ranking at 35% accuracy, and is in, fact, out performed by 3 dead groundhogs, an invisible groundhog, and a Prairie Dog statue. I'm not really surprised, however. It's just random.