Crabby

After breakfast out at our local "diner", we dropped hubs off at home and Maura and I headed for Redington Beach to see what we could see. We had a nice walk down the beach, snapping shots of shore birds and terns and this and that. When we were back to nearly where we started, we spotted a huge gull on the beach along with a second nearly-as-huge gull. I was hoping that one of them was a Great Black-backed Gull ... and I was right! The bonus was that the second gull (this one) was a Lesser Black-backed.

We watched this one wade into the surf and return with a tiny crab which he then proceeded to toss all over the place. He'd pick it up and throw it down on the sand, then pick it up, carry it a little ways and throw it down again. We surmised that it was trying to kill or disable the crab to avoid getting pinched. Surprisingly, after a minute or so, he dropped the crab and walked off. We immediately went over to investigate where Maura discovered that 1) the little crab was still alive, and 2) it's pinchers were working just fine! After we both got some pictures of the dazed little fighter, Maura returned him to the ocean where he will hopefully live to fight another day.

Five other shots from our outing posted starting HERE on Flickr

Maura headed north to Gainesville around noon and I started tagging and editing photos... Hubs is having a nap and I may just join him... What a perfect weekend!

Have a Superlative Saturday.

Debbi