Photographs of a Bay in Winter

Most of the last month I was under the weather and did not go out very much. It felt good to get some fresh air and bring my camera.

We may be in the dead of winter, but life goes on. My daughter and I visited the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park, Oyster Bay, New York. We moved recently and this harbor is very near to our home.

Lone Tree Overlooking Oyster Bay

Although it was cold, people were enjoying the brisk air and animals, mostly waterfowl, were doing their best to survive. The birds appeared to be gulls, but I saw one variety I could not identify. It had black feathers and looked like a cross between a goose and a gull.

Bird I Cannot Identify

The gulls were not very active. I saw a lot of smashed shells on the walkway. Usually this means the gulls have caught shellfish and dropped them from a great height. They do this until the shells open and the gulls can feast on the animal inside.

However, I didn't seen any gulls actually engaging in this activity. They seemed to be foraging on the shore, drinking from shallow puddles.

Gull Standing by the Shore

Gull Floating Under the Pier

Gull Swimming Under the Pier

It's quiet at the shore in winter, but still there is life. Dogs were walking, many of them off leash. There were motorcyclists, and bicyclists. Couples enjoying the view. Most of the people were alone, though. It seemed they needed a place to go and be quiet.

Couple on the Pier

Girl Walking on the Pier

Man Standing on the Rocks, Looking at the Opposite Shore

Same Man, From a Distance

Hundreds of years ago Oyster Bay was 'discovered' by Europeans who found the bay rich in seafood, especially shell fish. Although there was an indigenous community that existed already, the Europeans soon drove this community away.

Today Oyster Bay is still known for its shellfish, though one must harvest these in season and in approved areas. Note the sign below that forbids clamming.

Sign Forbidding Clamming

Oyster Bay is a natural Harbor, as you can see from the images here:

People dock their boats at the harbor in season. Here's a picture of a boat slipway:

Boat Slipway

There is a network of piers that are quite stark in winter and offer some amazing angles to photograph:

We saw one touching memorial. Had someone died at that spot? Was this a memorial to someone who loved the park, or the bay? There was no inscription to guide our thoughts.

Memorial

Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Park is a quite sophisticated complex. It is a beach in summer, and a picnic area year round. It has a soccer field. And it has a significant marina. There is a large firehouse, and equipment to fight fires that might occur on the boats. We saw a fire rescue boat:

Fire Rescue Boat

Fire Rescue Boat Seen Through Reeds

We had intriguing views of distant shores. Some very wealthy people build their homes overlooking the bay.

Distant Shore

One of the sights a visitor might overlook in summer is the stunning assortment of rocks. Oyster Bay has impressive boulders, as does much of the North Shore of Long Island. These are a legacy of the last Ice Age, when the glacial sheet pulled back and left boulders in its wake.

Rocks at Oyster Bay

We saw a stream that fed into the bay from a small body of water near the fire house:

Stream

Finally, we saw sunken pilings. I don't know if these represent a signal to boaters, or if they serve some other function. I just thought they made a neat picture.

Sunken Pilings

The pictures in this blog were taken with a Nikon Coolpix B500 camera. My husband bought this for me a couple of years ago so I could take pictures for LIL, the LMAC Image Gallery. I have contributed many images to that gallery. The photos posted here today will likely find their way to that library, also.

Once contributed, the photos in LIL are in the public domain and become a resource for anyone on Hive to use for any reason.

I hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures I shared. I'm not a photographer. Before participating in the LMAC project, I don't think I took ten pictures in my life.

Peace, and health, to all.

Thank you for reading.