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fitfoolSeals! I got to see hundreds (maybe even a thousand!) of seals this weekend. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
canyoncat said he was going to go looking for seals in Chatham, MA, and invited me along for the 20-mile walk. I was stiff and sore afterwards, but the soreness was well worth it! We started with spotting a few lone seals here and there along the way. And then he spotted the colony in the distance. Hundreds of them basking in the sand in the distance. I squinted. They looked like a bunch of rocks to me. We plodded on. And finally, the shapes in the distance did indeed start looking more like seals. And finally we were upon them. We had to keep our distance or else they'd hurry into the ocean and watch us warily, their heads bobbing in the gentle surf. Spent a few hours taking pictures and watching them lounge around napping, quarreling, and scritching themselves with their fins. I had never been so close to seals before (outside of an aquarium) so I was happy to be able to watch them. I wished I had brought a pair of binoculars though so I could get an even closer view.
Oh...and more seal stuff:
Cute video where a seal cuddles up to someone
Much better photos by CanyonCat
A little ways south of Chatham, MA, along the Cape Cod National Seashore, there are Monomoy Islands. It used to be just one island and then a bad blizzard cleaved it into two islands. However, since then, the islands are now reconnected to the mainland. It doesn't show up on the maps but if you look at the satellite images, you can see that you can walk to the Monomoy Islands. Granted, it's a bit of a hike. It's about 9 miles to get from the Chatham Lighthouse to the Monomoy Island Lighthouse that's toward the southern tip of the islands. That's where we turned around. You can get there by boat and they run seal watching trips so that's an easier way to get to see the seals.
First seal was spotted a little under 2 hours in to our walk. Just napping in the sun. Not a bad idea really.
I kept having trouble with identifying seals from a distance. At first I couldn't tell if the lump I saw was a seal or driftwood. And then after a while, I wondered if I were seeing a live seal or a corpse. We spotted 4 dead eider birds, one was ripped open by a peregrine falcon, blood spotting the surrounding sand with some seagulls standing around hopefully for a bite. Also saw this dead seal with a bit too much sand piled up on him.
Bones of a long dead seal. There were still flies working on picking away at these bones.
On left, we kept following these dog tracks for mile after mile. Might've been a coyote though. We didn't see any people tracks near those dog tracks the farther we went. In the middle, that's looking back over the ground we had already covered. And on the right are some seal tracks. You can see where the two front fins plant themselves and then the fainter line of the tail fins dragging along in the middle. Some of the tracks showed seals that went a good ways onto shore, moving right up into the dunes sometimes.
See the seal colony on the sand? They're not rocks like I had thought at first. That's the Monomoy Lighthouse in the distance behind them. It's not a working lighthouse any more though.
We walked to the lighthouse and then stopped for lunch. While there, two other men walked up to get some equipment from the keeper's house. They're fixing up the place and had gotten as far as gutting the inside and reshingling and painting the outside. Unfortunately, they'll need to wait for more grant money before they can fix up the inside too. Still, it provides shelter. They said they get researchers out there to do surveys of the wildlife and so they'll be able to stay there while they're in the field.
When the seals spotted us and got spooked, they would shuffle into the ocean and watch us warily from the water. They could move surprisingly quickly on land when they wanted to.
So we changed tactics and tried to sneak up on them from behind the sand dunes. We'd walk on the other side of the sand dunes, hidden from the seals' view. Then drop our packs and crawl up to the edge of the dune and peek our heads over.
This approach worked much better. We could hang out there for a while like this. I wished I had a long telephoto lens that could peek out from behind all those long grasses though.
Even with our precautions, many seals would spot us and watch. Some would continue to keep an eye on us. Others would look up and then slump back down to the sand and go back to sleep.
A watchful grey seal watched us watching them.
When we spotted just a single seal at a time, I thought I noticed a different odor and wondered if that was what the seals smelled like. Once there were a bunch of them together, the smell was unmistakably them. The smell reminded me of a farm and is apparently the smell of having lots of them grouped together as well as due to their lack of toilet training. So that smell that reminded me of a barnyard? That's the smell of manure.
Watching them lounge around on the beach. Apparently they like to bask in the sun and nap after they're done feeding. They look like giant slugs. Occasionally they would arch up, swivel slightly rotating their position, and then slump back to the sand and continue napping. Some would nap on their back, fin resting contentedly on their bellies. Some would lie on their side scritching themselves on the belly with their fins, sometimes scratching away at their face and heads. Sometimes they would shove into each other, as if telling someone to move over, and they'd end up bumping chests, seeming to fight for dominance.
This one's yawning. I think. Or maybe he's yowling. We heard all kinds of sounds. There was a background hum of a kind of moaning hooting sound. Mixed in were snorts, farting sounds, yowls that sounded like a cat.
These two look like they're talking.
As the tide was coming in, those closest to the water would start getting wet. Then you'd see a group of seals arch up so that their noses and tails were in the air, their body in a U. And then you'd see another seal come shuffling through the crowd and then flop down on a new patch of sand. As that seal passed by, the others would also slump back to the sand, and go back to dozing. It reminded me of being at a movie theater and seeing one row of people stand in a half crouch while someone apologetically brings popcorn back to their seat in the middle of the row.
This little guy was propped up on his fins. Very cute!
One last seal on the beach. Then I ran out of batteries.
canyoncat said he was going to go looking for seals in Chatham, MA, and invited me along for the 20-mile walk. I was stiff and sore afterwards, but the soreness was well worth it! We started with spotting a few lone seals here and there along the way. And then he spotted the colony in the distance. Hundreds of them basking in the sand in the distance. I squinted. They looked like a bunch of rocks to me. We plodded on. And finally, the shapes in the distance did indeed start looking more like seals. And finally we were upon them. We had to keep our distance or else they'd hurry into the ocean and watch us warily, their heads bobbing in the gentle surf. Spent a few hours taking pictures and watching them lounge around napping, quarreling, and scritching themselves with their fins. I had never been so close to seals before (outside of an aquarium) so I was happy to be able to watch them. I wished I had brought a pair of binoculars though so I could get an even closer view. Oh...and more seal stuff:
Cute video where a seal cuddles up to someone
Much better photos by CanyonCat
A little ways south of Chatham, MA, along the Cape Cod National Seashore, there are Monomoy Islands. It used to be just one island and then a bad blizzard cleaved it into two islands. However, since then, the islands are now reconnected to the mainland. It doesn't show up on the maps but if you look at the satellite images, you can see that you can walk to the Monomoy Islands. Granted, it's a bit of a hike. It's about 9 miles to get from the Chatham Lighthouse to the Monomoy Island Lighthouse that's toward the southern tip of the islands. That's where we turned around. You can get there by boat and they run seal watching trips so that's an easier way to get to see the seals.
First seal was spotted a little under 2 hours in to our walk. Just napping in the sun. Not a bad idea really.
I kept having trouble with identifying seals from a distance. At first I couldn't tell if the lump I saw was a seal or driftwood. And then after a while, I wondered if I were seeing a live seal or a corpse. We spotted 4 dead eider birds, one was ripped open by a peregrine falcon, blood spotting the surrounding sand with some seagulls standing around hopefully for a bite. Also saw this dead seal with a bit too much sand piled up on him.
Bones of a long dead seal. There were still flies working on picking away at these bones.
On left, we kept following these dog tracks for mile after mile. Might've been a coyote though. We didn't see any people tracks near those dog tracks the farther we went. In the middle, that's looking back over the ground we had already covered. And on the right are some seal tracks. You can see where the two front fins plant themselves and then the fainter line of the tail fins dragging along in the middle. Some of the tracks showed seals that went a good ways onto shore, moving right up into the dunes sometimes.
See the seal colony on the sand? They're not rocks like I had thought at first. That's the Monomoy Lighthouse in the distance behind them. It's not a working lighthouse any more though.
We walked to the lighthouse and then stopped for lunch. While there, two other men walked up to get some equipment from the keeper's house. They're fixing up the place and had gotten as far as gutting the inside and reshingling and painting the outside. Unfortunately, they'll need to wait for more grant money before they can fix up the inside too. Still, it provides shelter. They said they get researchers out there to do surveys of the wildlife and so they'll be able to stay there while they're in the field.
When the seals spotted us and got spooked, they would shuffle into the ocean and watch us warily from the water. They could move surprisingly quickly on land when they wanted to.
So we changed tactics and tried to sneak up on them from behind the sand dunes. We'd walk on the other side of the sand dunes, hidden from the seals' view. Then drop our packs and crawl up to the edge of the dune and peek our heads over.
This approach worked much better. We could hang out there for a while like this. I wished I had a long telephoto lens that could peek out from behind all those long grasses though.
Even with our precautions, many seals would spot us and watch. Some would continue to keep an eye on us. Others would look up and then slump back down to the sand and go back to sleep.
A watchful grey seal watched us watching them.
When we spotted just a single seal at a time, I thought I noticed a different odor and wondered if that was what the seals smelled like. Once there were a bunch of them together, the smell was unmistakably them. The smell reminded me of a farm and is apparently the smell of having lots of them grouped together as well as due to their lack of toilet training. So that smell that reminded me of a barnyard? That's the smell of manure.
Watching them lounge around on the beach. Apparently they like to bask in the sun and nap after they're done feeding. They look like giant slugs. Occasionally they would arch up, swivel slightly rotating their position, and then slump back to the sand and continue napping. Some would nap on their back, fin resting contentedly on their bellies. Some would lie on their side scritching themselves on the belly with their fins, sometimes scratching away at their face and heads. Sometimes they would shove into each other, as if telling someone to move over, and they'd end up bumping chests, seeming to fight for dominance.
This one's yawning. I think. Or maybe he's yowling. We heard all kinds of sounds. There was a background hum of a kind of moaning hooting sound. Mixed in were snorts, farting sounds, yowls that sounded like a cat.
These two look like they're talking.
As the tide was coming in, those closest to the water would start getting wet. Then you'd see a group of seals arch up so that their noses and tails were in the air, their body in a U. And then you'd see another seal come shuffling through the crowd and then flop down on a new patch of sand. As that seal passed by, the others would also slump back to the sand, and go back to dozing. It reminded me of being at a movie theater and seeing one row of people stand in a half crouch while someone apologetically brings popcorn back to their seat in the middle of the row.
This little guy was propped up on his fins. Very cute!
One last seal on the beach. Then I ran out of batteries.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 12:56 am (UTC)I think being reincarnated as a seal would be nice.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 01:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 01:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 03:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 01:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 09:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 10:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 01:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 09:49 am (UTC):)
So, I found this a very cool post indeed. I love all the pics, both yours and your friend's.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 12:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 11:10 am (UTC)Getting Rid of the Seals
Date: 2011-06-29 05:29 pm (UTC)I can understand why it would seem odd that people want to get rid of the seals - they are very cute and fun to watch. However, they also eat a ton of fish and attract large sharks. Aside from the casual fishers who do it for pleasure, there are many commercial fishermen whose income is being reduced because of the seal population explosion. And the sharks - they hurt tourism and also are just dangerous to have swimming around such a populated area. Sharks of the size they have been finding off the shores are not normal for the area - it's the seals that brought them there.
So, while cute, they bring a whole set of problems with them, and I think they should find a way to move them. People have already started shooting them from their boats- they found several dead seals with gun shot wounds to the head.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-11 11:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 05:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-12 09:34 pm (UTC)I've been out searching for spotted salamanders over the last few days - no seals around here (wish there were!).
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-16 11:36 pm (UTC)That link mentions "Isles of Shoals, NH" out of Portsmouth, NH as running seal watching trips. (though when I click through, I don't see mention of it on the website) Looks like there are some seals in Maine and Newburyport, MA too. But looks like Chatham, MA is the one with the biggest seal colony.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 08:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 08:51 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-04-17 05:06 pm (UTC)