Sandcastles, Shorebirds, and Sea Turtles

The scent of salt and sunscreen wafted through the air as the many beachgoers enjoyed the beautiful day. The tide was out, making it a further run for the children before they crashed into the small waves. Multi-colored umbrellas checkered the soft sand along with a chair and towel for most of the patrons. 

Spring Break had ended, but some visitors remained. Harley and Harper were twenty minutes into digging a large hole on an impromptu beach trip after school (the perks of living in a beach town). Mom was reading a book under the shade of their worn canopy. Dad was still at work, so the twins knew they would have to find a shell to give to him later. 

In between their trips to cool off in the water and then return to digging, they caught the eye of another child on the beach who timidly came up to introduce himself. 

He was visiting his grandparents from out of state, and it was his last day before heading home. Becoming fast friends, he joined in their beach play. 

Dalton was building a large sandcastle, and the twins decided to pause their digging to work on a mote for his creation. 

Time continued to breeze by as peacefully as the warm near summer wind, and they knew their time was dwindling. 

“We still need to find a shell for Dad,” Harper reminded her brother. 

“That’s right. Let’s ask Mom if we can take a walk down the beach and look. Want to come with us, Dalton?”

“Let me ask my grandma!”

After securing permission to walk, but stay within eyesight, they began their hunt for the perfect shell. Sizing up broken but colorful remnants, shiny half clam shells, conch that still had the slug inside, and tiny bits of sea glass, they talked about what it must have been like to be a Pirate. 

Almost at the end of their allowed distance, Dalton pointed at a large group of birds that clustered together a short way ahead, “Come on, let’s run at the birds and watch them fly!” 

He began to get into a sprint position when Harley and Harper both shouted in unison, “No!” 

Startled and a bit taken back, he tilted his head in question, “What? They are a bunch of seagulls; it’s fun to see them fly off.”

“Oh no, there several more types of birds in that flock than it appears.” Harper pointed. 

“So what? They are birds?” Dalton shrugged.

Harley gave his sister a glance and continued, “We learned about them before our Spring Break started at school. We actually have lots of birds that migrate to our beach this time of year. We aren’t supposed to disturb them, as they need their rest after such a long flight.”

Harper nodded emphatically, remembering the words of the presenter that had come to their school. “And some of them are nesting, so we don’t want to interfere with them finding what they need to build it and protect their eggs.”

“Oh,” Dalton kicked at a shell, “I guess I didn’t really think about that…”

“It’s okay. How are you supposed to know when you don’t live here? That is what friends are for, to share stuff we know.” Harley smiled and suddenly saw a perfect shell up ahead. “Come on, let’s get a few more shells before heading back.”

Once content with their shell haul, the three friends walked back to their families, who had begun to pack up. Seeing that they would not have time to finish their hole, they started to shove the piles of sand back in.

“Wait! Why don’t you leave the hole and finish it tomorrow? You live close by, right? You did so much work on it, and it would be a shame to let it go to waste!”

Harper nodded at her brother, letting him know she would respond, “So, it’s also about to be Sea Turtle nesting season here, which means that at night, Mama turtles may crawl up on the sand to lay eggs. She could fall into this hole, so we must leave the beach exactly as we found it to make it easier for her.”

Mom smiled as she finished breaking down the canopies and used her foot to fill in the smaller holes left from the canopy legs, “We also need to fill in the smaller holes so when the baby turtles hatch and begin to crawl back to the water, they don’t fall in and get stuck.”

Dalton looked from the twins and their mom to his grandma. “There sure are a lot of rules at the beach.”

His grandma put a hand on his shoulder, “They may sound like rules, but we owe it to the animals we share this beach with to keep a safe and clean environment for us all to thrive in.”

Dalton took a moment to let the information soak in, then looked to his sandcastle and the mote around it. “Can you help me stomp this out? I wouldn’t want any turtles to get stuck.”

“You bet!” The twins ran over to help.

**Do you enjoy beach days? Do you search for any particular shell? Have you noticed an increase in birds on the shore? Did you know that some of them travel thousands of miles to come to our beach? Did you also know that Sea Turtles begin to nest soon? Make sure you pick up your trash, fill in any holes, and let the birds have their nap next time you are at the beach!