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Sunday, November 23, 2008

Cattle Point and Return of the Seals

Today was a day without wind or rain, a combination that's becoming rarer as we get closer and closer to winter, so we made sure to go out and enjoy the sunshine. We went down to Cattle Point at the south end of the island and walked along the beach. Just before we left the sun went behind a cloud, making for some stunning lighting, as seen in the photo of Cattle Point lighthouse below:

There were a lot of birds around, but of course I had the shorter lens on my camera thinking I'd mostly be taking landscape shots so I didn't get any photos of them. Some highlights include a loose flock of about 30 black turnstones, a small white sandpiper I think was probably a sanderling, about 8 or 10 piping oystercatchers, and up in a tree on the dunes a huge congregation of pine siskins, a species I hardly ever see.

Then when we got home, I noticed another large school of fish. I hung around for a bit, and sure enough, the two seals were also around. It was again starting to get too dark for any good photos, but I like this one because it shows both the seals on the right (one underwater and one on his back at the surface again), and the school of fish which is he darkish blob on the left. You're also seeing a piece of kelp and the reflection of some of the pilings of a building on the shoreline.

2 comments:

ADVENTURES IN NATURE said...

I love your blog posts - found it through another blog that I visit. Such interesting information! Keep posting...

Monika said...

Thanks for stopping by and commenting! I went to check out your blog, too, and it looks like we have a lot of common interests. I love how the blogging community can bring people together from so many different regions...I certainly don't get to blog about armadillos, for instance!