Island Thanksgiving
I would have to say that one of the best days so far on the island was Thanksgiving Day. I got up that morning called home and talked to family. As soon as I got off the phone one of the guys I work with called from the other room: "There's a murre in front of the house." Now this was truely odd. Murre's are seabirds related to penguins (black and white, but more slender) and they never come on flat land. They like cliffs. Three of us are now staring out the window at a little bird that is staring back at us. We walked outside. The bird kept looking at us suspiciously and then hopped up on the sidewalk and sits down. We sat down within a few feet of it and began shooting lots of pictures. I'm enclosing one of them. Sadly its a crappy shot of me.
Back in the house, I snuck in some mashed potatoe making before getting ready for my shift at the lighthouse. As soon as I walk out of the house I see blood on the water. Another shark attack in Mirounga Bay! I decided I would be late to the light and sat down. I started counting fins. When a shark comes up to feed you usually see two fins: its dorsal fin and then the top half of its tail. This time
I counted 3 and then 4! There were two sharks at this kill! I didn't get any good head siting this time, but the sharks stayed up at the surface for awhile and there was a lot of bloody thrasing as the tore up chunks of the elephant seal to swallow.
The sharks finished feeding and I headed up the hill to the light. As I'm standing around up there I lucked out and saw another shark attack. Then as I turned around to record the attack I spot a whale out of the corner of my eye. The whale was within a few hundred feet of the island. The only whales that really come in that close are gray whales. Gray whales have a really nobby lower back and a speckled coloration making them pretty easy to distinguish from other whales at close range. This was our first gray whale of the season so I was pretty excited. (sorry, no pictures of that guy!)
After coming down from the light, my supervisor offered to take me out on the boat to see if we couldn't approach the whale and to give me a tour around the island. Can a day get any better?! We spent about an hour on the water circling the island and trying to get near the gray whale. We didn't get too terribley close, but it was still pretty awesome. Seeing the island from the water is a whole other experience from living on it! It looks so craggy and intimidating by sea. I'm
enclosing a picture of one of the more spectacular features of the island: great arch.
Back on land I preped the turkey (which was icky- I've never had to pull somethings neck out before), made stuffing and went out to look for more birds. It was a good day and dinner turned out really well with the things I made plus sweet potatoes, turkey, pumpkin pie, and apple pie.
Very satisfactory.
PS: I'm also enclosing a picture of a bull elephant seal( named JD) that recently showed up on the island. Obviously its my shadow resting on him, but I was trying to give ya a size reference. He's a big boy! At least 12 ft. Those immature elephant seals next to him are probably 6 feet.
Back in the house, I snuck in some mashed potatoe making before getting ready for my shift at the lighthouse. As soon as I walk out of the house I see blood on the water. Another shark attack in Mirounga Bay! I decided I would be late to the light and sat down. I started counting fins. When a shark comes up to feed you usually see two fins: its dorsal fin and then the top half of its tail. This time
I counted 3 and then 4! There were two sharks at this kill! I didn't get any good head siting this time, but the sharks stayed up at the surface for awhile and there was a lot of bloody thrasing as the tore up chunks of the elephant seal to swallow.
The sharks finished feeding and I headed up the hill to the light. As I'm standing around up there I lucked out and saw another shark attack. Then as I turned around to record the attack I spot a whale out of the corner of my eye. The whale was within a few hundred feet of the island. The only whales that really come in that close are gray whales. Gray whales have a really nobby lower back and a speckled coloration making them pretty easy to distinguish from other whales at close range. This was our first gray whale of the season so I was pretty excited. (sorry, no pictures of that guy!)
After coming down from the light, my supervisor offered to take me out on the boat to see if we couldn't approach the whale and to give me a tour around the island. Can a day get any better?! We spent about an hour on the water circling the island and trying to get near the gray whale. We didn't get too terribley close, but it was still pretty awesome. Seeing the island from the water is a whole other experience from living on it! It looks so craggy and intimidating by sea. I'm
enclosing a picture of one of the more spectacular features of the island: great arch.
Back on land I preped the turkey (which was icky- I've never had to pull somethings neck out before), made stuffing and went out to look for more birds. It was a good day and dinner turned out really well with the things I made plus sweet potatoes, turkey, pumpkin pie, and apple pie.
Very satisfactory.
PS: I'm also enclosing a picture of a bull elephant seal( named JD) that recently showed up on the island. Obviously its my shadow resting on him, but I was trying to give ya a size reference. He's a big boy! At least 12 ft. Those immature elephant seals next to him are probably 6 feet.
posted by Anonymous at 7:09 PM
1 Comments:
as always: wow, sarah.
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