A Beautiful Day to Die . . .

The beach was nearly abandoned. On days when rain threatens we often have the beach all to ourselves.

sun bleached snail headed for a puddle

puffy white clouds against blue sky

Cumulonimbus

rain over the ocean

About these clouds from Wikipedia:
Cumulus clouds are a type of cloud with noticeable vertical development and clearly defined edges. Cumulus means "heap" or "pile" in Latin. They are often described as "puffy" or "cotton-like" in appearance. Cumulus clouds may appear alone, in lines, or in clusters. Cumulus clouds are often precursors of other types of clouds, such as cumulonimbus, when influenced by weather factors such as instability, moisture, and temperature gradient. Cumulus clouds are part of the larger category of cumuliform clouds, which include cumulus, cumulus congestus, and cumulonimbus clouds, among others.^[1] The most intense cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds may be associated with severe weather phenomena such as hail, waterspouts and tornadoes.

 Beach combers enjoying the waves with no one around

Beach trash

Other than the trash we hauled in, we were enjoying our surroundings until we noticed a disturbing site. We counted four dead birds within about a mile of beach. This gull death was a particularly sad site to see.

Seagull with salmon hooks in gullet

line is in the birds beak

    

The bird was entangled in fishing line. It took two of us to pull the fishing line and hooks out of the bird. I was shocked when I saw the enormous hooks this bird had swallowed. It's difficult to know if it was the hooks in his gullet or the fishing line that mangled his body that was the cause of his death.