TWEET TWEET!
A beautiful specimen from the birding banding excursion near Snow Hill, MD

Resting Gaucho
A wooden model of a resting cowboy in the Marvel Carriage Museum

Assateague at Sunrise
Waking up to the buzz of bugs isn't so bad when you wake up to this...

Bird Bander
Bird Banding master, Richard Roberts, enlightened Coastal Stewards and a Ward Museum photo group on the world of Eastern shore bird banding and migration. Here, he has the bird in "photo grip."

Ooey Gooey
Sinful dessert eaten in downtown Lewes, Delaware

Rackliffe House
Visible from the near Assateague, this plantation house is pre-revolution

Doggie-Friendly Assateague
Did you know dogs are allowed at Assateague Island National Seashore's non-life guarded beaches?

Dogfish Head Brew Tours
Not only does Dogfish Head try unorthodox methods of brewing, but they also work with molecular biologist to learn and recreate ancient recipes. (You can hear all about it on a brew tour.)

The Future of Chesapeake Bay Farms
These cute little critters welcome the farm's visitors as they taste fresh ice cream and stroll around the grounds.

The historic Julia Purnell Museum in Snow Hill, Maryland

Lavender bundles from Lavender Fields near Milton Delaware

Cornbread
Stop by Trappe Creek Restaurant for their all-you-can eat crab special and cornbread when you're in the Berlin, Maryland area.

Blueberries
Good Earth Market not only sells organic goods, but also local fresh fruits and veggies.

Local Honey
Good Earth Market boasts LOCAL HONEY!

Busy Bee
Lavender Fields Farm has keeps its five hives of bees very busy with creating lavender infused honey, a French delicacy.

Two local musicians work their craft outside the opening of the Delmarva Discovery Center in Pocomoke City, Maryland

Days Gone by Museum owned and operated by Mr. Jack Knowles of Woodland, Delaware. The museum is actually in Mr. Knowles backyard.

Fishing boats
A pair of fishing boats sitting in the Ocean City Commercial Harbor.

Lunch
We witnessed a live horseshoe crab (you guessed it) feeding. That is a minnow in its mouth!

Hermie
This Assateague tour boat shared their pets with us and even let their hermit crab run around a bit.

Female Horseshoe Crab
A female horseshoe crab as she moves back to sea

Sunset Over the Bay
A beautiful sunset at our Makai condo after a long day of rain storms.

Mar-Va Theater Volunteers
The theater's volunteer-only staff takes care of all aspects of the facility, from selling concessions to cleaning up after shows. These local girls will gain community service hours in the next school year.

Local Man Power
Around here, its used for getting two-ton hard tops in place.

Pylons serve as a beautiful perch for the local gulls. What a great view from the DuPont Nature Center window.

Alex, the DuPont Nature Center's mascot, watches over the beaches where his fellow red knots fill up before their long migrations. This giant model bird is sponsored by the DuPont's Clear Into the Future Initiative, a program of the DuPont Company, and the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife.

THE RETURN TO SLAUGHTER BEACH

No, this isn't a script to a sequel of a classic horror film. Nor will this piece of work be destined to bring tears to the eyes of all, asking, "George... Why Ewoks? Why?" But this is a story of something seemingly out of a science fiction movie.

At risk of the Host Our Coast blog sounding like a public service announcement for horseshoe crabs, we decided to voyage back to Milford, Delaware to witness a phenomenon whose season is soon ending. From the middle of May to the middle of June, horseshoe crabs creep up onto the beaches of Slaughter in order to spawn, their biggest turnout taken place under the eerie light of a full moon, or the utter darkness of a new one. We happened to be privy to one occurring on a new moon on Monday.

As these fearsome, menacing looking critters made their way out of the dark depths of the sea, Melanie and I walked barefoot with Liz Gordon, our naturalist for the evening, watching out for spiders and sand fleas and ghost crabs hiding out in the washed up sea weed. Guided by headlamps and our cameras' flash bursts, we found our way to clusters of the horseshoe crabs mating under the cover of sand and sea foam.

Small males used their boxing glove shaped claws to latch onto their female companions hoping to fertilize her eggs. She, in turn, dragged her mate similar to Igor pulling the remains of an experiment gone awry. Somewhere along the lines of this odd engagement, the grey and green, ten-eyed beings managed to flip themselves over exposing their many legs, claws and swimmers. They frantically swam through the air, hoping to find a way to right themselves. Their movements, their mouths, their claws - all alien and foreign and creepy underneath the moonless night, but completely harmless (unlike the facehuggers they are reminding of... You know, the ones from Aliens.)

So we continued to saunter down the shoreline, feet and legs soaked by salt water, picking up these odd beasties to examine and assist their return to the watery depths. As we learned more and more, we met a couple from Washington D.C. that ventured out to this secluded shoreline solely to witness this event.

Night had finally arrived hard and decisively and most of the stars were blocked out by the looming clouds. Only in the distance you could find light being projected from phantom ships. We were glad we made it out alive (though there was no reason to think otherwise since there was no danger at all... or WAS THERE?! ...

No, there actually wasn't. It was a blast.

Comments
AWESOME! Very creative!
Posted By Martin | 6/23/09 9:19 PM
Ewoks! hah
Posted By Emmet | 6/23/09 9:57 PM
love the video!
Posted By Carrie | 6/23/09 10:04 PM
My regards to the authour for the article. Forum users recommended me use rapidshare search engines( http://www.rapidsharemix.com ) and this is really very convenient. try yourself!
Posted By Athanassios | 12/19/09 2:40 PM

Host Our Coast

African American History (3)Archaeology (3)Art (6)Beer (1)Biking (7)Birding (3)Farms (6)History (13)Interviews (2)Museums (9)Nature Preservation (13)news (3)Other (8)Parks (10)Recipes (3)Restaurants (10)Road Trip (7)Special Events (16)Sports (3)Theaters (4)Town (23)Vlog (2) Tips for an excellent Host Our Coast applicationHost Our Coast Launches Today!! $15K and FREE Places to Stay!And the Winner Is... Host Our Coast!So long and thanks for all the fish.Road Trip: Wrap-up in Dover

The Return to Slaughter Beach
Athanassios said: My regards to the authour for the article. Forum users recommended me use rapidshare search engines(... More

And the Winner Is... Host Our Coast!
Lisa said: A just love reading this, keep it coming...I am traveling whilst sitting here in my living room! Lo... More

Riding the Underground Railroad
Edward said: wow, I'm impressed! that must have been great! adore biking!!! unfortunately living in a big city, d... More

And the Winner Is... Host Our Coast!
Carrie said: much-deserved recognition! congratulations to the entire Host Our Coast team! More

Road Trip: Day II
Anna M. Bond said: Ward Museum is a wonderful place where you can culturally enlighten. Salisbury Zoo which is one of t... More