GEORGETOWN – Killer snails. Frolicking moose. Over-protective birds who fake a broken wing.

The beach is a most interesting place, especially if you know where to look.

To get more out of your next trip to the beach, we toured Reid State Park with Jocelyn Hubbell, interpretive specialist in the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands, and Park Manager Samantha Wilkinson, in her 27th year of working at Reid.

“We’ve got everything here, turtles, beavers, herons,” Wilkinson said. “As people stampede to the beach, they miss a lot of cool stuff.”

So here we go: Everything you need for your own cool stuff tour.

Bayberry leaves. As Wilkinson drove to Todd’s Point and Half Mile Beach, she pulled over and pointed out what looked like ordinary shrubs. “If you feel the leaves, rub them gently, you’ll notice the wonderful scent,” Hubbell said, holding the bay leaves. They did smell great. Residents in the area have been using the bay leaves in cooking for generations, Hubbell said.

Killdeer shore birds. In the parking lot of Half Mile Beach was a bird making a lot of noise. It was a mother Killdeer, a shore bird, who was not happy with us.

Wilkinson grinned, saying the bird has made its way into the park staff hearts. “Of the 765 magnificent acres here, she chose to nest in a busy parking lot. So we staked off the area.” On a recent busy Sunday, “that mother was just unflappable. She sat there on her eggs.”

The eggs hatched the day before our visit. The mother was chirping, squealing and clicking, “trying to lure us away from the babies,” Wilkinson said.

Hubbell noted that the bird was sticking out her wing, trying to trick a predator into believing she had broken it. Meanwhile her babies were across the parking lot. “I saw a couple of teeny, tiny heads in the shrubbery,” Wilkinson said.

The best smell. On a path to Half Mile Beach, Wilkinson called attention to a smell “that has intoxicated me since I was a little kid. I’ve never smelled it anywhere else.” The smell was the combination of the nearby marsh, pine and the blooming rugosa rose. Walking on the path, a large deer suddenly dashed across in front of us. Reid is home to deer and moose.

Moose tales. Wilkinson shared her favorite moose story. Several years ago a male crossed the sand dunes, went to the surf and played in the waves, just like a young child. “He’d stick his head in the water, then run back to get behind the wave, then run up again and stick his head in the water. It was in the middle of the summer,” after the crowds left. Wilkinson and others watched from the parking lot. “It’s one of my fondest memories,” she said.

Piping plover nest. On Half Mile beach a section near the sand dunes was roped off. Chicken wire made a box around a nest of piping plover eggs. The piping plover is an endangered shore bird.

“This is a re-nesting attempt,” Wilkinson said. “The first nest where the mother laid the eggs, the eggs hatched. We saw the broken eggs, but nobody saw the babies. We suspect things did not go well for them.” Baby plovers have no natural defense, and are eaten by lots of creatures, including seagulls. “We try to give them every possible benefit at Reid where they make their home,” Wilkinson said. But if the chicks stray from their wire-covered nest, there’s little you can do, she said.

Holes that bubble in the sand. As we walked along the beach letting the cold surf embrace our feet, tiny holes in the sand bubbled as waves retreated. What are those holes, we asked Hubbell? They’re from clams below the sand. If you were to dig straight down you’d find a clam, she said, unless it’s a razor clam. Razor clams move fast. As you dig, they feel the vibration. “They have a long foot. They can put their foot down and pull away from you. Most people can’t dig fast enough to get a razor clam.”

Sea lettuce, kelp. On the ground were pieces of bright green stuff. “That’s sea lettuce,” Hubbell said, a common, edible algae. It’s named for its lettuce-looking leaves. Meanwhile Wilkinson picked up and played with a four-foot piece of brownish kelp. “The next time you brush your teeth, think about kelp,” Hubbell said. “Carrageenan is extruded from kelp, used as a thickener in a lot of our food products,” including toothpaste.

Where holes on top of shells come from. We looked at a shell with a small hole in the top, like the ones we used to gather to make necklaces as a kid. Hubbell explained the hole came from a meat-eating snail called the dogwinkle or dog whelk.” With their tongues the dogwinkle drills circular holes in clam shells. “They stick their tongues in and literally eat the animal alive,” she said. The more common snail, the periwinkle, is a gentler vegetarian that eats algae.

Drive to the other side of the park to Griffith Head and Mile Beach, which features breathtaking views from the rocks and a popular man-made lagoon. Under a bridge on the way to Mile Beach are some terrific tidal pools.

Tidal pools, outside classrooms. In tidal pools are crabs, star fish, sea urchins, small fish, an occasional lobster, mussels, barnacle and more. “You have to let your eyes adjust, be patient, and willing to pick up things,” Wilkinson coached, standing in the water. There were periwinkle snails, mussels and barnacles galore. The mussels are firmly attached to rocks, but can be yanked free for a closer look. Barnacles look like shells, but are actually animal life that attach themselves to hard surfaces, Hubbell explained. At the top of of a barnacle is a seam that opens and feathery antennas come out to filter feed.

“The very young and very old, everybody, can get lost in a tidal pool,” Wilkinson said. Often “you don’t know what it is until you pick it up and look at it. That’s half the fun.” Take a camera or drawing pad so you can document what you don’t know. That’s what we do,” Hubbell said.

The dark side of starfish. Starfish live on rocks and are sometimes found under the bridge on the way to Mile Beach, but not on this visit. Wilkinson likes starfish for their beauty, strength and ability to regenerate a new leg. But starfish aren’t loved by all, Hubbell said. They eat by making a hole in their prey. Then, “their stomach goes into the animal and digests it,” she explained.

Lily pads, frogs, turtles at Beaver Pond. About a quarter-mile from the Reid State Park gate is Beaver Pond. Most people drive by it. Wilkinson and Hubbell showed off paths that quickly brought us to the pond. The smell was pine trees. Noise of frogs filled the air. The pond was filled with lily pads, turtles sunning themselves, dragonflies and frogs. Beautiful white and yellow lilies bloomed in the water. The blooming season is two weeks in July; we lucked out. High in nearby trees were great blue heron nests. At dusk beaver swim in the pond, but also at dusk mosquitoes come out in force.

Whales and moose. Off of Reid’s coast are harbor seals and, occasionally, a whale. Several years ago in April a dead pilot whale washed up at Reid’s Half Mile beach. The carcass was moved to the marsh. “Every time I drive by I look for a moose in the marsh,” Wilkinson said. There’s an Indian legend that whales and moose are each other reincarnated, she said. “Whales beach themselves when they know it’s their time. Moose often go to sea and end it that way. There’s a correlation.”

Beach therapy. Wilkinson, who grew up in Georgetown, said her mother used to tell her that the cold ocean water heals scrapes and cuts. I told her my mother said the same. “Our moms were right,” Wilkinson said. “I don’t know the exact healing properties of salt water, but the whole experience is pretty therapeutic.” She smiled as she took in her work place. “A bad day at the beach is better than any good day at the office.”

To help youngsters learn from a beach journal, go to:

www.maine.gov/doc/parks/parksinfo/reidstatepark/SeashoreJournal-1.pdf

For more about Reid, go to:

  www.maine.gov/cgi-bin/online/doc/parksearch/search_name.pl?state_park=13&historic_site=&public_reserved_land=&shared_use_trails=&option=search

Did-you-know precautions at Reid State Park:

No life jackets allowed. Why the Department of Conservation allows no life jackets or air mattresses at surf beaches: Park personnel often get disagreements from parents when rangers tell them no flotation devices are allowed. Parents think they’re protecting their children when they put a life jacket on. “But when you’re wearing a flotation device, you are a cork in the surf,” said Reid State Park Manager Samantha Wilkinson. “You get pulled out into the surf quickly, making rescuing much more difficult.”

Rip tide: Rip tide currents are a serious problem at Reid, she said. If that happens, swimmers should resist the urge to fight the current and swim to shore. Instead, swim parallel until you stop feeling the pull, then swim to shore.