Blazing Clouds

Venice Beach, Half Moon Bay, California, USA

On a cloudless day, a mackerel sky started to blow in near sundown, prompting me into driving to the coast in anticipation of the pending sunset.

While the sunset was incredible, the pink in the Altocumulus clouds deepened in twilight and began to look like flames when the wind pulled strands of cloud in to cotton candy like formations with small patches of blue sky behind.

With the cold waves washing over it, the beach is a great habitat with much food for birds that feed on the shore. Running out to sea to get the freshly buried invertebrates with each wave, they run back to keep from getting washed over by the wave. As you go down the coast, the life in the sand turns into life in tidepools as beaches become rocky intertidal areas.