Cocoa Beach – Page 7 – Michael Stephen Wills Photography

Anatomy of Dawn

Subcategories of Twilight and more

March 4, 2022March 2, 2022 MichaelStephenWills11 Comments

Use your pinky finger to apprehend the sky dome. Imagine yourself at sea, out of sight of land, on a calm day. Keeping your arm extended, place your pinky-tip on the horizon due east, raise your arm directly overhead. The average sized pinky-tip will have spanned 90 of its lengths. The distance measured from the horizon to directly overhead, the zenith, is 90 degrees of sky dome, about one pinky-width per degree, one-fourth of the entire 360 degrees of sky around your spot on the globe.

The apparent width of the sun disk from earth covers 1/2 degree of sky dome. The disk center point moves 15 degrees per hour (360/24 = 15). Using these facts to estimate time to sunset is relatively straightforward. Estimating time to dawn from the sky is more difficult. This graphic, “Twilight-dawn subcategories,” is a way to grasping what happens. Your position on the earth globe affects the experience. For example, at northern latitudes above 60°34′ summer nights never become darker than civil twilight because the sun’s midpoint never drops lower than 6 degrees below the horizon. Civil twilight lasts all night long summer times in parts of Sweden and Finland.

Attribution: “Pmurph5, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia “

The date-time stamp on the first photograph of this series is 6:46:23 am, Cocoa Beach sunrise for February 1st was 7:09:40, 00:23:17, 23.283 minutes in decimal notation, later. This duration divided by 60 minutes in an hour and multiplied by the sun’s apparent velocity across the sky (15 degrees per hour) and minus the .25 degree between sun’s center and disk edge, gives the sun’s center as 5.57 degrees below the horizon: this is a photograph of the sky a minute or so after the sun passed civil dawn into civil twilight. I am not more exact because this calculation does not account the deviation of the sun path from due east at this latitude, lengthening civil twilight duration by almost a minute.

Edge of Civil Twilight: dark clouds soon to take light

The following photograph is time-stamped 7:05:06, 4.567 minutes until sunrise, sun center is just below the horizon, setting the dark clouds of the previous photograph fleetingly on fire.

Sunrise has passed in the following photographs, obscured by clouds and making for a great light show. Enjoy!!

References

“Dawn” Wikipedia page, the graphic “Twilight-dawn subcategories,” and the descriptions of subcategories came from this page.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Sunrise Sand Castle

Sights along Cocoa Beach

March 3, 2022February 26, 2022 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Even on vacation I rise early to better enjoy the day. This year’s escape from the Ithaca winter, at Cocoa Beach, up at 5 am with a beach chair and oranges in hand I walked in darkness from our beach side resort to the tide high point. My time occupied by sky watching I peeled, and ate, oranges while locating stars through the wind blown clouds. When the barely perceptible dawn light began I packed it up to find Pam, who asked to be awake for sunrise.

This day, we ate breakfast from ready to eat food purchased from the Publix market close by on Atlantic Avenue, and caught up with the news craziness. We had a day at the Kennedy Space Center planned after the sunrise walk.

Here is our view while walking north along the tide line. In the far far distance are the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly building and a space launch gantry. Follow the shoreline to find the pier.

We walked nowhere near the pier, barely visible, not to mention Sam Shepard park. The pier and park are a day’s walk. We had a few hours free before our “Lunch with an Astronaut” event at Kennedy Space Center.

Click the photographs for my Online Gallery.

The highlight of this sunrise walk was this large sandcastle on the beach in front of a condominium, the Hilton is to the left. Lori Wilson Park is out of sight to the left. A great feature of the park, for us since the International Palms were we stayed is next to it to the north, was the park life guards.

So, we approached this sandcastle from the north. It survived the high tide to a new day, obviously it required time and resources to build. The day before was a big beach day. Wednesday was a brilliant, summer-like day for the first of March.

A little closer, the footsteps inside the first moat are interesting.

Pam next to the castle provides scale

Here is the central pyramid. I enjoy the dawn light on the grasses. That is a sea gull feather on the apex.

Decorative sea shell band facing the ocean.

Decorative band of sea shells– CLICK ME!!!!

The destiny of all our human conceits. Impermanence is part of the beauty of sand castles.

Click for the first post in this series.

Copyright 2017 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Lady Feeding Gulls, Cocoa Beach Dawn

unflappable lady hand feeds seagulls

February 25, 2022July 16, 2025 MichaelStephenWills22 Comments

When Pam read my post “Black Skimmers Feeding” she asked, “Where is the photo of resting Skimmers?”

To answer her question, I looked through Cocoa Beach photographs and discovered I did NOT capture the Skimmers resting. Instead, here are a related species, the Royal Tern (scientific name: Thalasseus maximus), whose behavior is similar in that it exclusively feeds from the water. There was a wind that morning and these individuals face into it. These birds are, from a human point of view, well behaved, unlike the opportunistic gull.

I searched around the web for identification of this gull without success.

Scavenging Gull – CLICK ME for more Florida photography.

It dines on a dead fish washed up by the surf. In my previous posting I used the word “grifting” to describe gull behavior, again this is from the human point of view. Gulls are notorious for stealing food from unwary beach goers, brazening walking over to unguarded chips (any kind), for instance, grabbing them and flying off. If the chip stash is large, this sets off a nasty feeding frenzy when tens of gulls swoop in and grab.

Here is a series of photographs, demonstrating this behavior.

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The dawn flowed over Cocoa Beach as a lady attracted a crowd of hungry gulls, reminiscent of scenes from Hitchcock’s “The Birds.”

She is obviously an experienced gull feeder, unflappable with a steady hand

Lady and Gulls – CLICK ME for more Florida photography.

She had come to the shore at dawn for a photo shoot. Her male companion (husband?) was there with a camera.

Pam and I were there for the dawn, me with the Sony camera.

At first, I stood there amazed at the spectacle. She was in such control of the situation, not a victim, more like a lion tamer.

Then, Pam said, “You have to get this.” And I did.

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Copyright 2025 All Rights Reserved Michael Stephen Wills

Newlyweds and the Cruise Ship

Images of Newlyweds on the beach

February 24, 2022February 20, 2022 MichaelStephenWills7 Comments

With grandchildren in the Miami Area and a sister in Daytona Beach, Florida was on my mind this morning and memories of this beautiful experience on Cocoa Beach came to mind. After an eventful day touring the NASA launch control center, Pam and I took an evening walk during the golden hour, me with camera in hand.
Full in expectation of catching the passing scene with lots of shot I set to full size jpeg mode using a Sony Alpha 700 dslr with a DT 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 lens. The light was exceptional, so I did not expect much post production work.

My first impression was of the line of cruise ships heading south from Port Canaveral, the starboard side lit perfectly behind human denizens of the Cocoa Beach shore, in full enjoyment mode. A synergy of the images struck me. I took a few experimental shots then, as we progressed down the beach front this unusual tableau came into view.

Wedding Immersion — Newlyweds on Cocoa Beach give rapt attention to a distant cruise ship, it looks like an elegant child’s toy.

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Pulling back the focal length a bit the reason for the bride and groom on the beach is clear.

Newlyweds and Photographer — Photographer approaches from left.

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The session proceeded smoothly and professionally, it was a pleasure to watch. I felt no compunction for capturing these private moments on a public beach, the transcendence of the images reflect well on all participants.

Newlywed Photoshoot — Bride and groom pose while photographer composes the shot, her assistant behind.

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Pull back to capture the entire environment.
Enjoy!!!

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Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Ulumay Wildlife Sanctuary

Brevard County Park on Merrit Island

February 22, 2022February 22, 2022 MichaelStephenWills

Ulumay is the name of the Native American settlement of the Ais people decimated by disease after the arrival of Europeans. The park is a natural lagoon and bird rookery linked with canals created for mosquito control and surrounded by a manmade dike. A trail on the dike provides access to the waterways for the fisherman, birdwatchers, and paddlers.

Ulumay Marker just off Sykes Creek Parkway

This informative placard, placed at the entrance. Note the 600 park acres is surrounded by residential properties.

I left Pam at the entrance, seen below at the words “Ulumay Wildlife”; she had a reasonable concern about alligators. It is quite possible to find a large specimen blocking the one and only trail. “What? Me Worry?” When pursued by an alligator, remember to zig-zag.

Path along the dike, thick vegetation on both sides generally limits the view.

“Flora and Fauna”

Waterways, sightings

Second Stand

Third Stand

No sightings of alligators or manatees.

Copyright 2022 Michael Stephen Wills All Rights Reserved

Venus at dawn

Planet Thoughts

February 21, 2022February 19, 2022 MichaelStephenWills3 Comments

Since 1500 B.C. until today…..

The planet we call Venus has ancient associations with fertility goddesses. The link has persisted at least from the 1600 century B.C. inscribed on Sumerian cuneiform tablets. Three thousand years later the Italian artist Botticelli created in tempura paint on canvas the image of Venus rising from the sea, as the planet Venus does today.

“The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, c Late 15th century, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Venus Rising

Here is Venus rising from the sea at dawn January 2022, at its brightest and most beautiful. Some mistake this new light in the east for airplane lights; the bright disk of Venus is 25 times brighter than Sirius, enough to cast shadows at night. As Venus proceeds in its orbit, the planet alternately sets after the sun and rises before it, seemingly appearing new each time.

This February I caught a newly risen Venus in this IPhone 7 video, reflected in the waves. It seemed to be a flashing headlight on the beach, the Venus reflection came and went with the passing waves. Venus is the upper, the reflection is beneath. Use the lower right control for the full view.

Looking from his window June 1889, Vincent VanGogh included Venus in his “Starry Night” painting, seen to the right of the Cypress tree.

Here is a closer view of Venus last January, the planet disk is apparent, unlike even the closest stars, Venus is seen as a whole object. Click on image for a full view.

Venus and Mars

Venus and Mars shared 2022’s pre-dawn winter sky. Click on the first image for a full-size view. Mars is seen above the palm tree stump, on the right. In this photograph, from early February, Venus and Mar apparently moved closer. The closeness is an illusion, the planets are millions of miles apart, on either side of Earth’s orbit. Click on the photograph for a full-size view, Mars can just be made out to the right and above Venus.