Magdalena Bay
Dawn on Magdalena Bay: a tanager coloured cloud, like a proscenium arch of magma, unveiled the sun. The fresh northerly wind was invigorating on the bow of ‘the bird.’ Ah…Baja California!
A steady stream of Brandt’s Cormorants headed upwind - all 4900 of them! They had spent the night on a sandbar in the bay – safety in numbers! Their destination for the day? Same as ours – the 40 mile canal that leads to Boca de Soledad at the north end of Magdalena Island. In spring these cormorants will eventually disperse all up the west coast of North America.
After breakfast, we land with our Zodiacs at Sand Dollar Beach and most of us trek across the narrow isthmus of this 60 mile long barrier island. The island is composed of row upon row of sand dunes. Clinging to the mounds of pure white sand are plants such as sand verbena with its fuchsia colured flowers, the yellow blooms of primrose and the purple of locoweed. Not a botanist’s delight but an ecologist’s nirvana.
Shifting sands cover a multitude of animal tracks from beetles and birds to an agile jumping kangaroo rat. Suddenly a leaping black-tail jackrabbit whizzes by deftly navigating the dunes, its black-tipped ears, like antennas ever listening for danger. Coyote prints criss-cross the desert. The animal may have even scavenged the fluke and flippers off of a beached bottlenose dolphin we discovered on the Pacific side of the island. Once back on board we see living examples of the same magnificent dolphin bow-riding and thrashing through schools of fish. It’s heartening to see the full cycle of such a magnificent creature.
As we wind mile after mile up the canal that separates Magdalena Island from the Baja Peninsula, we see a most unusual sight: a coyote trotting, with spirit, along the exposed low tide flats. The backdrop of mangroves seems so incongruous. The same mudflats are abundant in wintering sandpipers; from willets and curlews, to godwits, yellowlegs and dowitchers. Eight species of herons and egrets also are spotted. It’s a birder’s paradise!
After twisting out way out of the narrow canal and its “devil’s elbow” we finally get our first views of the one of the great whales, the grays with this year’s young. Oh what a treat! We even see a mom ‘logging’ on the surface as her baby (1500 lbs.!) appears to nurse. It’s wonderful to see the future generations of this long-lived creature peacefully live in the serene waters.
Dawn on Magdalena Bay: a tanager coloured cloud, like a proscenium arch of magma, unveiled the sun. The fresh northerly wind was invigorating on the bow of ‘the bird.’ Ah…Baja California!
A steady stream of Brandt’s Cormorants headed upwind - all 4900 of them! They had spent the night on a sandbar in the bay – safety in numbers! Their destination for the day? Same as ours – the 40 mile canal that leads to Boca de Soledad at the north end of Magdalena Island. In spring these cormorants will eventually disperse all up the west coast of North America.
After breakfast, we land with our Zodiacs at Sand Dollar Beach and most of us trek across the narrow isthmus of this 60 mile long barrier island. The island is composed of row upon row of sand dunes. Clinging to the mounds of pure white sand are plants such as sand verbena with its fuchsia colured flowers, the yellow blooms of primrose and the purple of locoweed. Not a botanist’s delight but an ecologist’s nirvana.
Shifting sands cover a multitude of animal tracks from beetles and birds to an agile jumping kangaroo rat. Suddenly a leaping black-tail jackrabbit whizzes by deftly navigating the dunes, its black-tipped ears, like antennas ever listening for danger. Coyote prints criss-cross the desert. The animal may have even scavenged the fluke and flippers off of a beached bottlenose dolphin we discovered on the Pacific side of the island. Once back on board we see living examples of the same magnificent dolphin bow-riding and thrashing through schools of fish. It’s heartening to see the full cycle of such a magnificent creature.
As we wind mile after mile up the canal that separates Magdalena Island from the Baja Peninsula, we see a most unusual sight: a coyote trotting, with spirit, along the exposed low tide flats. The backdrop of mangroves seems so incongruous. The same mudflats are abundant in wintering sandpipers; from willets and curlews, to godwits, yellowlegs and dowitchers. Eight species of herons and egrets also are spotted. It’s a birder’s paradise!
After twisting out way out of the narrow canal and its “devil’s elbow” we finally get our first views of the one of the great whales, the grays with this year’s young. Oh what a treat! We even see a mom ‘logging’ on the surface as her baby (1500 lbs.!) appears to nurse. It’s wonderful to see the future generations of this long-lived creature peacefully live in the serene waters.
