Beach Report 10/6/26

It was cooler today, in the upper 50's. Because the wind was low, I braved it in shorts, but Georgia dressed up. It worked for me.

The tide was on the way down, and there was a lot of gravel to look through.

We found 16 sharks teeth, including this Snaggletooth, one nice fat Black Drum tooth, and a small shark vertebra.

Beach Report 10/2/26

Wow! 80 F with light south winds, and moderate humidity and a few wispy, high clouds.

There's an Osprey in that picture somewhere. In fact, I saw two in the air at one time. Is there a dad still taking care of a juvenile? 

The tide was pretty low, but the beach is still "different" after the nor'easter. Lot's of good material to look through. The top tooth is a well worn lower Mako Shark. I'm pretty sure the lower tooth is a sadly broken retroflexus, the much rarer Long-fin Mako. If it had been intact it would have been one of our best ever.

Tattoo Thursday

Science Alert, Tattoos Affect Your Immune System in Ways Scientists Are Just Beginning to Understand

Beach Report 9/30/26

A gorgeous fall day, sunny, with just the right mix of fluffy clouds, temperatures right around 70 F. A south wind had a bit of chop coming in.

The tides are still elevated above astronomical prediction, and there's still a lot of sand missing, moved offshore for a while. Consequently, I couldn't make it much beyond Calvert Beach.

I still found 10 teeth, including this White Shark.

I also spotted 2 Ospreys (or at least the same one one in two different places), showing that they're not all gone.

The Wednesday Wetness

WUSA 9, Power outage at water filtration plant triggers essential water use order in Montgomery, Prince George's counties

Nearly two million people in Maryland are under an essential water use only order Tuesday. WSSC Water issued the urgent request following a power outage at the Potomac Water Filtration Plant. Here's what you need to know.

WSSC Water is urging all 1.9 million customers in Montgomery and Prince George's counties to only use water for essential purposes effective immediately. Officials say at this time, there is no need to boil water before use, and water is safe.

When you're delivering water to 2 million, even your backups should have backups. 

Beach Report 9/29/26

The tides are still high after the nor-easter, and there has been a lot of erosion of the beach. I waded past this spot, but I could not go far up the beach on Matoaka.

It looked potentially stormy, but the radar was clear, and the temperature was right around 70 F, with light winds

Not a bad day for shark's teeth considering, 13 in all, including this moderately rare (for here) Sand Tiger, and...

This lower Snaggletooth, and a couple of crab claws, and a sting ray barb.

Tuesday Tanlines

Corporate Target, From the Dance Floor to Target Beauty Studio: Peta Murgatroyd Brings Self-Tanning (and Confidence) to Guests.

Target Beauty Studio is all about helping guests discover innovative beauty brands that deliver real results. The elevated, discovery-led beauty destination features dedicated Beauty Advisors, rotating product features and an expertly curated assortment of more than 1,600 products from 90 prestige, emerging and global brands — most new to Target. Through our ongoing work with founders, Target helps entrepreneurs grow their businesses while bringing fresh ideas, trends and innovation to guests. One of the new additions is Peta Jane Beauty, the self-tanning brand founded by professional dancer, entrepreneur and Dancing with the Stars champion Peta Murgatroyd. Born from years of backstage trial and error, Peta Jane Beauty was created to solve the frustrations Peta experienced with traditional self-tanners, from streaky color and unpleasant scents to sticky formulas and uneven fading. Now, with Peta Jane Beauty at Target Beauty Studio, guests can shop the brand’s range of self-tanning products in stores, on Target.com and in the Target app.

I wonder if anyone has ever used masking tape to create tanlines?

Surviving the Nor'Easter

Although we're not getting a direct hit from the nor'easter plaguing the Atlantic coast, we are being affected. Wind for the last several days have been high, and today ran a pretty steady 30 kts, with gusts to 40, under cloudy skies, with a little rain, but nothing significant. 

The water have been very high, driven by the storm offshore, and there has been a lot of erosion at the beach, with high tides lapping at the base of the dunes, and a pretty healthy chop out on the water.

Still, the sand will return in time, it just moves offshore a ways, and then slowly works its way back in during fairer weather. And I'm hoping some big teeth wash out of the cliffs.

And then there's this. I got a call this morning from a neighbor on the street below us, who called me to say a tree on one of our back lots had leaned over his house, and was threatening to fall. Under MD law, the problem is his, but he wanted to notify me that he was getting it removed. I told him to do whatever he needed to, and not worry about any damage to our lot, which is just woods.

Fortunately, the tree (a poplar with a rotten base) was hung up in a nice strong hickory, which kept it off the house for several days. A tree crew arrived around 3:30 PM and set to work. A huge crane (at least for the area), set up and hoisted a climber into the tree. He tied pulling strap onto the tree, and the crane pulled it back out of the hickory.

Then they got to work with a chainsaw. They cut it off the stump, and then cut segments off the trunk as the crane dangled it vertically, until it was too unbalanced to continue. Then they laid it in the woods, and finished chopping it up. The climber had to go back up to remove a big branch that had broken off the poplar and lodged in the hickory.

I paid the chainsaw crew a little extra to knock down a tree that might eventually become a problem, and just lay it in the woods.

Riders on the Storm

 At the Balmer Banner, A nor’easter is brewing off the East Coast. Here’s what Marylanders need to know.

A strong nor’easter is developing off the East Coast. While forecasts suggest that the worst of the storm could miss Maryland, the National Weather Service said that a lot about the storm’s path and strength remains uncertain.

The low-pressure system is expected to stay off the coast of the Carolinas in the next few days, said Katherine Humphrey, a meteorologist for the weather service’s Baltimore /Washington office. The Baltimore region likely won’t see a lot of rain, but there’s potential for coastal flooding along the Chesapeake Bay, Humphrey said.

Nor’easters are strong storms that develop off the coast between Georgia and New England. They are usually more common from mid-fall to mid-spring and can produce major snowstorms during the winter. The storm will likely peak this weekend, though its exact path is still unclear.

The Eastern Shore, including Ocean City, could see some flooding. A coastal flood warning is in effect from 4 p.m. Wednesday through 4 a.m. Friday. People heading to Ocean City for the sold-out Ocean’s Calling Festival, which runs Friday to Sunday, should keep a close eye on the weather.

In the Baltimore and Washington regions, sunshine and dry conditions are expected to break through Thursday after several days of steady rain.

We didn't see the sun today, but it didn't rain any more after almost 2 inches in the previous two day, and it's been windy the whole time, and likely to get worse. The tides are ridiculously high, and predicted to rise more. 

The good news is that it should move stuff around on the beach, and wash teeth out of the cliffs.

Tattoo Tuesday

Star Magazine, Rita Wilson Shocks Fans by Revealing Massive Back Tattoo, Reveals It’s ‘Freeing’ to ‘Simply Be’

The acclaimed actress and singer, 69, shocked her followers with a Sunday, September 20 post on Instagram, in which she appeared to confirm she’s actually covered in tattoos.

Tom Hanks‘ wife took to social media to promote her new single, “Stranger with Age,” by sharing a photo of her bare back. In the image, a giant cross tattoo can clearly be seen, while she also rocked another piece on her upper arm. It’s unclear whether the ink is permanent or temporary.

“STRANGER WITH AGE? Who? Me? I’m lovin’ it! Who else is stranger with age? STRANGER WITH AGE song is out everywhere,” she captioned the post.

If she's an acclaimed actress and singer, why have I never heard of her before? 

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Oktoberfest up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.

Thursday Tanlines

WYFF Greenville, SC, Woman with hatchet assaulted by teen girl outside tanning salon

They warned you tanning was dangerous!

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Coffee & Sweater awaiting your digital pleasure.

The Wednesday Wetness

13 News, Tucson,  Three swift-water rescues along Alamo Wash in Tucson

A powerful storm rolled through southern Arizona on Monday, Sept. 13, leading to swift-water rescues, power outages, damage, and closed roads. According to the National Weather Service in Tucson, there were at least three swift-water rescues along the Alamo Wash.


13 News was there for one rescue near 22nd and Kolb. While everyone was out of the vehicle, 13 News found a car in a flooded dip in the road. Another rescue allegedly happened near Grant and Craycroft, behind the Tucson Medical Center. The third one allegedly happened near 5th Street and Wilmot.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Coffee & Sweater awaiting your digital pleasure.

Save the Osprey!

Says Gerald Winegrad at the Balmer Sun,

Help save osprey chicks from starving

Your support is urgently needed for long-overdue major restrictions on the Virginia-based slaughter of tens of millions of individual menhaden a year. Thousands of osprey chicks in higher-salinity waters of bay country are dying slow, horrible deaths from starvation because of corporate greed decimating the ospreys’ major food supply — the Atlantic menhaden (also called alewife or bunker).

 

These oily calorie- and protein-dense forage fish are the major food for adult and young ospreys in tidal bay reaches.

Hearings are set along the Atlantic coast for the public to weigh in on whether to greatly reduce the huge harvest of menhaden in the Chesapeake by as much as 50% and to spread that harvest more evenly throughout the fishing season to allow enough summer menhaden for ospreys, other birds and fish.

Virginia allows large commercial ocean purse seine vessels using high-capacity netting techniques to scoop up entire schools of menhaden in the water after scout planes find the schools and smaller vessels circle the fish in vast nets. Maryland banned such harvest techniques more than 50 years ago. Omega Protein’s contracted fleet has been known to exceed its quota. Virginia is the only state along the Atlantic coast that still permits such an industrial reduction fishery, located in Reedville, Virginia.

 

The reduction facility processes the whole fish by cooking, pressing and separating them into fish meal, used as high-protein feed for aquaculture (farmed fish) and livestock. Menhaden are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids and used in human dietary supplements. Cooke Inc. of Canada purchased the U.S.-based Omega Protein in 2017 for $500 million. Cooke operates as a fully integrated global seafood and aquaculture corporation that controls every stage of production from freshwater hatcheries to consumer distribution, including for Atlantic salmon.

 

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), a 13-state coastal interstate body that regulates near-shore fishing for migratory species, has been under pressure to end or greatly reduce this industrial harvest for decades. Omega Protein and Virginia have done all in their power to block any tighter regulations by the ASMFC or the state. Their governors and elected officials, both Republicans and Democrats, have been plied with hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations over the last 20 years. Even legislation to study the Chesapeake menhaden population had been blocked by the Virginia legislature.

In August, the ASMFC finally voted to “consider” whether to adopt meaningful reductions, including up to a maximum of a 50% cut. This vote will take place at its November meeting after hearing from the public. This does not mean they will do anything to change the current harvest cap of 51,000 metric tons. That equates to roughly 112.4 million pounds of fish or about 150 million fish.

But we all have a chance to weigh in and force the ASMFC to act. Your opportunity comes from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. this Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Annapolis High School Auditorium. The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Potomac River Fisheries Commission will host.

The Osprey were hard at work today at the beach. According to AI, the mothers are gone:

Fall Migration (Heading South)

• Late August: Adult females are the first to leave their breeding grounds.
• September: Juveniles and failed breeders head south during this month.
• September to October: Adult males are the last to leave because they stay behind to feed the young until they can fish on their own. Most birds reach Central or South America by late fall

Eye on Annapolis, Severn River Osprey Reproduction Plummets for Second Consecutive Year

The Wednesday Wetness

Fox News,  Texas becomes testing ground for new defense against attacks on America’s water systems. "The six-month pilot pairs federal agencies, Texas Cyber Command, and firms like Microsoft and Dragos to defend utilities."

Beach Report 8/23/26 - Meg!

Not a big Megalodon tooth, or a particularly well preserved one, but a Meg nonetheless. The bourlette is kinda sorta visible, and the serrations are well worn but apparent.

And while it's not complete, it is more than a mere fragment.

Otherwise it was not a very hot day for fossils; 11 teeth, a crab claw and 2 drum teeth.

We had a very high tide yesterday, and we didn't even attempt the beach. Then we had three thunderstorms overnight, which dumped 2.4 inches of rain, mostly in a few minutes.

However, the cold front dropped the temperature and humidity out of the stupid range into tolerable.

There were a few changes at the beach. Some of the logs moved a bit.

The Wednesday Wetness

WBOC, Maryland celebrates hitting Bay pollution goals; some watermen say numbers don't match what they're seeing

Maryland is celebrating a milestone in Chesapeake Bay restoration after Gov. Wes Moore announced the state has achieved nearly all of its 2025 Chesapeake Bay restoration goals. But some watermen say the pollution reduction target numbers don't reflect the conditions they're experiencing on the water. The Maryland Department of the Environment says the state has hit 100% of its sediment reduction goal, 100% of its phosphorus goal, and 99% of its nitrogen reduction goal.
...
But Captain Robert Newberry, president of the Delmarva Fisheries Association, says the pollution reduction target numbers published don't line up with conditions that watermen are reporting. "It's not my opinion, I'm taking up a conglomerate of what everybody's saying. We have problems with the numbers. They're not right," Newberry said.

Newberry says he spoke with watermen from Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, Dorchester, Somerset, Baltimore, Anne Arundel, St. Mary's, Calvert and Charles counties while researching the issue, and says the consensus among them was skepticism.  “The upper bay, the guys have been seeing, dead zones, benthic zones, bad water all summer long. And they saw it in the south too, they’re seeing extremely turbid water, which is non-visible,” said Newberry. "Nothing was getting done in one year. All of a sudden, boom, we hit 100% phosphorus reduction, 99% nitrogen and 100% sediment. That's not the consensus I'm getting bay wide.”
...
Allison Colden, Maryland executive director of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, says the numbers released this week are based on bay-wide modeling and show Maryland has met or is on track to meet its reduction goals. But she cautions that models don’t tell the whole story.

"Models are always inherently an abstract of what we are seeing in reality," Colden said. "It's a necessity to simplify what we're seeing in order to produce a model. And because of that simplification, there's always a chance that there is, you know, some sort of gap between what the model would predict and what we are seeing. That doesn't necessarily mean the model is wrong.”

That's almost the definition of a model being wrong; when it doesn't match reality. 

Beach Report 8/11/26

Cooler than yesterday, mid 80s, thanks to a thunderstorm and cold front that rolled through last PM, it was still pretty warm and humid.

A pretty decent tide, with lots of shell and gravel

The best of 30 teeth, a stunning 1 1/2 inch White Shark ancestor, Carcharodon hastalis.

Beach Report 8/7/26

Hot and humid. Showing 93 F at home, maybe a little lower at the beach, but not too much because what little breeze there was came from the southwest, off the land.

It was a good low tide, with lots of 'stuff' to look through.

I found this big Snaggletooth upper, 1 1/4 inch, only a little worse of wear (it's missing some root) half buried next to the concrete rings that are sometimes used to make the little groins. It was the best of 20 teeth, a couple of drum's teeth, and the mandatory crab claw.

The Wednesday Wetness

Science Alert, 'Tremendously Grave': The First US City Is on Track to Run Out of Water

It seems inconceivable, even if you're aware of the perilous situation that the world's water supplies are in, but a developed coastal city in Texas that more than 300,000 people call home is now in serious danger of running out of water. 

The city is Corpus Christi, and difficulties with water scarcity are now coming to a head after years of concerns over shortages. There are multiple issues combining here, perhaps most importantly the arrival of major industrial developments, off the back of the unlocking of vast oil and gas reserves that came with the shale revolution.

One plastics chemical complex, built in 2022, uses as much water for cooling every day as all the Corpus Christi residents combined. 

A planned seawater desalination plant, which was supposed to ease some of the pressure brought on by rising industrial water usage, never materialized, further compounding the problem of supply.

The Wombat has Rule 5 Sunday: Getting Strapped up and garnering clicks at The Other McCain.

The Lantern Flies are Here

Two days ago we had a thunderstorm accompanied by high winds. Yesterday, when we went down to the beach in the afternoon, there were many of them washed up on the beach. Although I knew Chinese Lantern Flies had made it to Calvert County, this was the first time I had seen them. Not a great thing. Hopefully, the birds will discover their edibility, and help suppress them.

It was a gorgeous day, as days following storm systems often are, in the upper 70s with clear skies and low humidity.

We took Gabby out on our walk, and she found her first shark's tooth. In fact, she found 4 of them, three of them so small they would be hard for adult to spot. Of course, she dropped the first one she found and lost it, after insisting she would be able to keep hold of it.