I gave away my best shell! Low tide summer shelling in Florida at Little Hickory Island Park.

seashells often have interesting textures such as ridges spines or smooth polished surfaces making them fascinating to touch and examine I make it a mission to go to the beach at least once a week on a quest to find these Treasures the exciting part is I never know what I'm going to find it could be a pristine example of a really common shell or maybe it's a specimen I rarely get to see either way the beach never disappoints and today we'll be beach combing little Hickory Island Park it's summer so the shells are going to be a little tougher to locate which is why I decided to go back to my car and grab my shell scoop any equipment that can help my mission is appreciated now I will tell you today is the first time one of the shells I find does not end up in my shell bag and believe it or not that made me really happy and there were a couple of other encounters I had that were also rather exciting and I'm going to share it all so if you're ready to see what is out there for us today let's go to the beach [Music] [Music] I have not been to little Hickory in what feels like forever right snag this yellow prickly cocko with a little hole in it because that's what I saw I'm kind of walking on toward the shelling location which is kind of near some Jetties here's a floor to Fighting Conch okay you're looking okay yeah yeah I don't know what kind of things I'm going to find today so in the beginning I might tend to hold on to a couple of things I might not normally hold on to this is a broad ribbed cord yeah it's just it's harder to find the shells in the summer what do we got here all right yeah we're not going to worry about that I think that was a coina and here is a little kitten paw and this is a little spiny Jewel box and I held it really quick now we just stopped for a second I know they look really really similar spiny jewelbox left kitten paw right it's that little bit of red that kind of gives away the kitten paw let's do a check-in all right so the tide is going out I tried to give myself the best opportunities for finding shells now what's this I normally don't pay attention to oysters now I believe this is a crusted oyster it's a little discolored these are the oysters I normally find and frankly I don't really usually pay a lot of attention to them here's a better example of one these are Eastern oysters I have seen people make really really cool things from these kind of seashells so that is an Eastern oyster all right I popped into the water just to check on Clarity and the clarity is chocolate milk it is the visibility is zero and there's just not a whole lot I can do about that I've got my shell scoop so just in case I see something I might be able to scoop that out with my shell scoop all right we have a little bit of garbage yeah that makes me think hurricane that was probably like a tempered table or something maybe an oven I don't know now hag Stones I have not picked up a hagstone in quite a while so hag stones are stones that have these holes which are created through natural processes like water erosion or burrowing organism like an oyster pic so there's these little clams that kind of like burrow and make those really really uh symmetrical little holes in those stones so I picked my head up and I look out and there's some manatees flopping around out there oh was awesome now was I tempted to go out and like pet them well sure who wouldn't want to do that but it's illegal you you do not want to come even close to manatees they're protected under several laws including the Marine Mammal protection act of 197 2 The Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the Florida manate Sanctuary Act of 1978 and the laws they were designed to protect the manties from harassment harm and there might be a couple of them out there I'm kind of looking around so the laws were designed to protect them from harassment harm disturbance and make it illegal to touch feed or otherwise interfere with manatees in the wild so as much as I wanted to maybe get closer I'm going to play on the side of safety really for the animals it's not safe for them so I got just a little bit higher up on the beach so I get a little bit better of a view you might have caught me filming them I did go live they were playing for so long that I went live for a little while on YouTube so that was pretty exciting so when I look at this Jetty all I'm thinking is it it used to actually be a legitimate Jetty and it was just absolutely blasted by Hurricane Ian and it looks like it wasn't really repaired yet yep there was two here's the first one there's not it's kind of like a little pile of rocks it's not really a jetty but let's see what might be collected around this pile of rocks all right we have a worm snail okay all right little bits and pieces a lot of your arcs we have a common Atlantic slipper snail oh there's a two two for one terrific all right what else is here I do see a lot of those transverse arcs yeah there's another yellow prickly cockle lot a IR pant ponderous Arc here's another oh that's kind of nice your Atlantic slipper snail oh there's a little Florida prickly cockle yep just a little blush of purple on the inside and oh another worm snail terrific all right unfortunately it doesn't look like tinies or anything it looks more just like pieces yeah there's your crossbar Venus clam can always count on those to be around and in retrospect I wish I'd picked up more of the dark shells so we have worm snails a couple of slipper snails look at that scallop oh that's awesome all I glad I'm glad I took my time here okay a couple of common stuff and then a very very lovely scallop yeah that's scalp is pretty lovely as well I'll go ahead and hang on to that too lots of craft shells ooh a yeah it's so hard to find big good shark eyes but I'm going to put it back I'm going to leave the aperture up yeah I'm going to try to protect the next sheller from hoping that that might be an intact shark eye a man so broad rib cardita on top it's broken I'm keeping it anyway the color is spectacular another little worm snail those are always fun and then another little Calico scallop with that terrific little burst pattern awesome here's another lovely little Scout I don't care what kind of great shell you give me any kind of great shell I will take so that is a little Calico scallop just lovely in the water oh you are gorgeous Florida Fighting empty yeah you kind of check all those little tick boxes for me oh and a little uh Mossy Ark let's take a look at the mossy Ark yeah you're okay I mean for all intent is you're you're intact you've been kind of beat up a little bit by some yeah some trying to grab that calcium off you here is another Florida Fighting con not the other one we picked up this one oh yeah got a little ecosystem with some slipper snails so living slipper snails on top of the Florida fighing conch that is still alive and well and it needs its shell all right what else all right so we're at the second quote unquote Jetty now and is this we got yeah that is a Apple mirx but it's attached to something and then look at this Fighting Conch and what was really kind of crazy about this one this is only the second time this has ever happened there's an animal in it oh so the animal is still alive it's in its shell and that shell is broken and I've had this happen before I found a lightning Welk and the lightning had a big hole in its shell I'm so bummed I'm going through my head like what can I repair the shell like there's nothing I can do I feel so helpless oh good luck my little friend yeah I feel so terrible about this it needs its protection but we've also seen many many shows that have managed to repair themselves so perhaps this Critter can do the same but yeah a little crazy just something like little sad I wanted to share it anyway that is nature all right we're by the second Jetty that actually looks a little more like a legitimate Jetty excellent we got some little breakers out there maybe be able to wander around see what other kind of fun things are out there okay ready to do some exploring kind of got to the exploring grounds another gorgeous Fighting Conch that's alive and oh you oh look at how beautifully it's worn down oh it's so pretty yep that one I'm definitely keeping I'm actually I want to do project with shelves that are worn down just so a lovely zigzag Arc or turkey wing take your pick yep do like a good turkey wing fancy Arc oh gorgeous it's it's it's not perfect and I don't care yeah you hold it like that you can kind of can't tell because I do I hope to be able to kind of start making more things so I want to collect more different types say shells maybe everything doesn't need to be perfect plus I hate putting glue on perfect shells yeah I'm cray cray I'm a little crazy all right there's a lettered Olive so they're here that particular one wasn't in very good condition all right just kind of poke around the seaweed okay an Atlantic giant cockle terrific nice cranberry color on the inside all right a little bit of what is the other B valve likely a Calico scallop yes of the pink variety all right hold on to that yeah yeah lovely color on the inside oh my goodness you are so zigzaggy yep yep I'm holding on to you for sure all right couple of great shells you know it's definitely more satisfying to look for shells that are not perfect because uh lots of more opportunities to keep things now we have a little hermit crab here wasn't terribly active I wanted to see if it would come out and I can kind of maybe see what kind of hermit crab I'm guessing long wristed hermit crab so we're not sure it's it's it's rather algae covered an algae covered hermit crab oh a sand dollar let's see it yeah it's still a sand dollar unfortunately it's only about 2/3 that's okay and the rest of it here nope all right so that I'm not going to collect I'll leave that here but maybe we'll find a whole one oh my goodness so this is what we would consider a freak shell and it's alive so this is a Fighting Conch now look at the top of its shell it's all wonky something happened either to the animal or to the shell and the animal had to kind of like figure it out just kind of grow around it anyway good job buddy F I think this is the first living like freak shell I say that with kindness we love the freak shells oh that's awesome freak snail oh all right so I know it's a critter and I do see the eyeball popping out of the front of the shell and actually the second eyeball is kind of down down there so I'm just kind of checking out this Critter okay it's going to go slumping that is The Locomotion movement I like to call it they schlump it goes over those seashells and then oh dear and then I just kind of got curious all right now what's going to happen is it going to come out of its shell and write itself which it can let's see and I this also reminded me of that beautiful pink shell I found here oh look at that all right so that's what's going to happen the waves are just going to write it again okay well that was it was what it was I really just wanted to see how that was going to resolve itself and I had found a very pink shell here it was gorgeous that's abandoned tulip but it was alive so I had to leave it so little hickory's been good for beautiful fighting con but the trick is to find one a keeper oh lovely banded Tula a lot better than that other one all right see this one a sh animal had to repair itself it was broken at some point and it actually the bands don't quite line up that's okay terrific terrific banded tul of yay so this is a short spine sea urchin it's covered in sea shells I'm not going to pick it up they tend to drop other shells I don't want to disturb it I have not been seeing the urchins the way I used to before the hurricane so I get very excited when I get to see them I Norm it would they used to be all over the place before the hurricane and now it's very different so that's a lovely pointed glossy lettered Olive kind of your general color there oh my goodness the color on this one oh I want it so badly it's kind of like this mustard yellow color but yep creature is not quite done oh my gosh I love that color oh that's great all right creature I just kind of admired your home and I'll just keep I'll keep shopping you're probably alive as well yep go oh my goodness look at that shell oh yeah it's so it feels like the best well maybe not all of them I do have some pretty spectacular fighting KS but the ones that really great yeah the ones with really great patterns are taking or the the Critter is not quite done all right here we have an empty one oh look how nice now those little white little dots I found lots of stuff I don't know what it is I am totally completely guessing baby Barnacles I have no idea what it is but it just feels like maybe it's baby Barnacles I don't know don't know another oh that's absolutely gorgeous so another lovely like a lemon colored fighting con yep terrific you'll come home with me shut the front door well would you look at that literally just sitting there at this fantastic alphabet cone yeah I couldn't believe it and again it's got those little dots on it now I realized the aperture is broken but that is a fantastic shell and it was not mine for long I don't know what came over me I gave it away so I would like to gift this to I'm going to gift you this lovely alphabet con oh you're so welcome it's perfect y oh my God yeah I don't normally give my shells away but I like I said something just kind of came over me it just felt like the right thing to do so this is my new shell friend Mary Mary just said I made her day and I can't that felt so good like it felt really good finding it but it felt better giving it away it just felt like the right thing to do I cannot explain it other than it's just what I felt and I went for it and I gave it away and I'm feeling good about it because look I get to keep this now I know it's got little beach stuff on it I cleaned it it's gorgeous I'll show you at the very end of the video all right it's looking a little Wile trappy so let's maybe tiny maybe oh would you look at that so that is a paper cockle it's either a broad paper cockle or a spiny paper cockle I do not know which it's frankly even if it was in really good condition I still don't know that I'd be able to tell them apart but that's that's a paper cockle now check out this Ibis their their uh beaks are so sensitive yeah just like that it felt a crab and just down the hatch it went so they'll eat little mole crabs little other crustations so that's a little Ibis and you might noticed that the water was looking a little little brown well that's from tannin and it kind of looks like te and that can happen the color can change from like a light yellow to a dark brown and it's a result of the decay of natural organic substances such as leaves bark in wood you can see how much stuff is kind of going on out there it's naturally decaying going into the water it's a natural process I know it looks a little weird but it's all good now I assume this Critter's alive I PE yeah it is I hate to disturb it but I'd also hate to leave a shell on the beach and it was so hot I started walking I was like wait a minute I'm going to put you in the water yeah so I'm sorry to have Disturbed you but I'm going to give you a little bath there you go it was hot out all right here's one we can keep so that is a lightning Welk that animal we just put in the water was a lightning wel here is a keeper shell lightning wel fantastic and oh I love these a little tinted canis oh that's terrific oh this might be the first trip in a while I'm not going to get one of those ribbed canist does it matter does it count yeah I still want that caneris now look at all the little dot the shell is beautiful the animal is alive oh he's so crazy looking oh but the shell was gorgeous and those little dots again a look at that face don't worry friend here you go there you go want to put you back I just wanted to show everybody your gorgeous shell it has been very nice very relaxing let's do a little check-in all right it's 90 it's hot should say 90 and hot and the Tide's down that's it it's not going to go out any further it's going to start coming back in and I originally thought yay maybe the tide will push shells in but yeah I just don't think that it's that's the kind of day I'm going to have today all right we do have some gorgeous letter olives what else is representing here in little Hickory not tinies it's mostly crushed up stuff yeah which is fine little oyster piece there but not tinies I suspect we're probably not going to find a wter trap oh my gosh oh it's so pretty I know it's a lot I do I I know it's a live I just oh my God yeah gorgeous shell friend oh man that is so pretty yeah little Hickory is like the land of the lust for the fighting con and I think it is high time for you to enjoy some beach time so I'm going to be quiet and let you enjoy the sounds of the Gulf now this lump of wood check it out those little holes were probably made by wood pics so there's other Critters they'll make holes in those stones like the hagstone and then others do it in Wood those are known as wood pics so pretty nice pretty nice day all things considered the the finding the shelves was a little more challenging than it normally is but I did want to give a little Hickory a try it hadn't been here in quite some time all right some nice byy valves another kitten paw so those were Calico scallops that's a kitten paw oh look at this this is also a b valve this is a jewel box but it is a corate jewel box I think it kind of looks like chewed up bubblegum yeah I think they're neat corrugate Jewel box okay so I'm back up I guess this is the second Jetty look at the Shell pile all right so I kind of missed this the first time I was uh close to the water so now that we have this gorgeous shell pile let's see what all is here all right yellow prickly cockle I don't know if it's one of your favorites it's one of mine yep fabulous they're a lot more round than the Florida prickly cockles all right there's T all right Buttercup Lucine no just a piece of a buttercup Lucine and yeah pieces great I mean this is like free shopping for craft shelves that is a jingle lovely little thing and another yellow prickly cockle right that's been here a little while it's not quite glossy yeah crossbar Venus clam yeah transverse Arc always depend on those yep there's another one kitten paw little wacky looking thing what do we got here yeah it's probably looks like a I think that's a yellow prickly cockle it's round even though the color looks like a Florida prickly cockle all right a little Calico scallop see yeah I mean it all in all it's really just like a whole bunch of craft shells I did see a worm snail I could have grabbed oh well speaking of worm snails let's talk about the variable worm shell now these are pretty cool because what they do is they anchor themselves to the bottom of the ocean and they can form reefs so many South Florida mangrove Islands actually owe their Origins to these Reef building variable worm shells they filter feed in place they Gill feed um they call it Gill filtering they eat plankton here is has a little coina oh dear yeah the hinge was a little bit a little bit fragile so variable worm shell is kind of cool they can build islands all right lovely Buttercup Lucine lovely not quite as lovely as this yellow prickly cocko oh I have a good feeling oh look at that yeah that's a buttercup Lucine full fat beautiful all right it's a little pile of yellow shells so another yellow cockle the Florida prickly cockle I feel like I'm speed shelling here all right here's another yeah Buttercup Lucine I guess the Tide's coming in a little bit that's another yellow prickly cockle it's kind of light though and another so yeah that was uh 45 seconds of speed shelling yellow shells and another prickly cockle I'm going to say that is a cockle that's what I'm going to say and Buttercup Lucine okay more oh there's a top of a Pew kitten paw another variable worm shell yeah that's why I'm going so quick the the tide may come and snatch my treasure so trying to quickly see what's here kind of snag it oh look an apple MX it's broken don't care I'm going totally keeping that what else is I see a little yeah a little fighting con yeah should snag that oh that's really nice it's a really nice looking shell kind of pointy yeah oh yeah on a day like today you're like a star that's beautiful oh turkey wing another turkey wing yeah you're fine a little bit of beach stuff that'll pick off no problem augur and a serif excellent I do see a bubble bubble oh yeah it's the one I was there we go Florida cone oh look at that other what is this other flat thing it looks like a kitten paw color but I don't know I'm going to I don't know going to try to hold on to it but I'm definitely going to keep that Florida cone yeah that was very cool a colorful moon snail broken don't care day like today you're gorgeous you're a star you're coming home with me oh and another little turkey wing terrific couple more colorful shells a Mossy Arc and this one has periostracum on it so I'm going to add you to my special box I do have a turkey wing with some periostracum on it so that's what that kind of like H leafy stuff yeah that kind of brown leafy stuff going hold on to that look at the color of that oh it's it's just so delicate so that is a Calico scallop just happens to have the really beautiful coloring on it so little Hickory was pretty fun yeah look it's summer it's going to be a little bit harder to find all those great shells I haven't been here since before the hurricane and I really didn't know what to expect and uh I just I'm just feeling all warm and fuzzy inside because I gave that shell away so in the future who knows maybe I'll be giving more shells away coas oh these are really cool so these little swell these B valves they're known for rapidly burrowing into the sand and they use a muscular foot to dig into the sand and they also kind of time it with the waves so that they can kind of move across the sand with the waves yeah pretty cool and they're commonly found along the Sandy Shores of the Atlantic and the gulf coast of the United States particularly in Florida and they do inhabit this inter tidal Zone where they often are seen kind of at the water's edge burrowing into the sand as the waves recede they are filter feeders they feed by siphoning Plankton and organic particles from the water and their feeding helps filter and clean the ocean and they're a really important food source for various Shorebirds fish and other marine animals plus their little shells are kind of cool I actually I think our next little shelling Adventure I do want to go look for tinies and hopefully we'll find some of those coas so little Hickory you were swell those manatees were awesome got a couple little souvenirs I made Mary's day and what could be nicer than that and then just to finish things off look a skimmer I was standing far enough back away from the water we're yeah I didn't spook it too much but we got to see a skimmer a little bit little bit of a skimmer once again so another wonderful beach trip under my belt and a little bit of garbage was off the beach it's only 35 o I know it's so little but it all adds up in total I still it's only a little over 51.8 lbs of garbage I'll get there one of these days it'll be 52 lbs and so I did manage to get some really nice Treasures I did grab some of those Florida prickly cockos there was those two slip snails I held on to and there was a bunch of those other Calico scallops the scallops were nice there's a bay scallop some uh Apple mirck Jingles kitten Paws the bubble a couple coas some flypc serah the serth the augur and some yellow prickly cockos definitely hold held on to a couple of those the colorful moon snail the banded tulip there's another spiny jewelbox the mossy arcs and the turkey wings there's a couple of broad rib cardas the Florida Fighting Kong I will never be disappointed coming home with those I did grab a couple oysters some of those worm shells and then some Buttercup Lucin that Atlantic giant cockal the hagstone some of those lettered olives and then my favorites were all these shelves it was the scallops the Florida cone that little tiny turkey wing there was only one lightning Wilk the caneris and that sand dollar just kind of represents the alphabet cone that isn't here but is happily in someone else's collection and so that just makes me happy happy as well perfect segue over to patreons who I really don't think I would do this without you I don't think that I would have been able to stick this through as many years as I'm doing this so thank you for your encouragement and thank you for your support it truly means the world to me next week like I said alluded to earlier I want to go look for tiny shells so I'm going to go to Bunch we haven't been there in forever hopefully I can score a couple onle traps we'll just have to see so until then I hope you have yourself a wonderful week and I will see you again next Sunday