Nature’s Largest and Smallest
This past Wednesday morning I went out from Herring Cove beach at my usual very early time…. no moon so my headlamp was on! I had told Lorraine the day before my goal was to see a whale… I had heard their roars way off in the distance two previous outings but I did not see them so I wanted to try again. Amazing how vast the ocean is when you are scanning the horizon trying to see a spout! It was a beautiful calm morning the entire time that I was out there. I started with mid-tide with the tide going out…
I crossed over into the Moors as I saw the PTown horizon was doing its magic. I set up and enjoyed the glorious colors!
I then moved slightly to my left to catch this….
And then I heard the roar!!! I picked up my equipment and ran the relatively short distance to the beach and was greeted with this amazing sight!
I quickly scanned the ocean and did not see any whales so I took a few more seconds to run further into the low tide pools to take one more shot before packing up my landscape equipment to give my full attention to the horizon for whales…
And then a huge roar! I just can’t describe it as anything other than a roar …. when all you hear are birds, the hum of fishing boats and the gentle lapping of the tide… you just can’t mistake that something enormous just said good morning!! And then I spotted the spout way out on the horizon!
And then this action!!!
As always I am talking to myself out there! lol!1 And I said… Cheryl, look away from the camera something else might be happening….
And is so often the case…. yes, something else was happening that I will never forget!
Here goes!
This is a North Atlantic right whale!! He/she was motoring right along parallel to the shore and sooooo much closer than the other action that was way out (fyi - I am not sure what type of whales those were way out…). This whale is doing what is known as surface eating… skimming the top of the water with mouth open for breakfast!
These precious creatures are Endangered… there are currently less than 340 left on the planet. Cape Cod Bay gets a huge percentage of these amazing creatures this time of year as the migrate north from the waters off of the coast of Georgia and Florida. Each of these types of whales are identified by the unique callosities on the top of their heads (that is what you are seeing here - the things that are barnacle looking). I have sent this photo to Coastal Studies in the hopes that it helps them with their research for this season’s sightings…
Amazingly, this whale decided to give me some other incredible looks before heading out to deeper waters… when he/she left I didn’t see any other sightings that morning…
Absolutely incredible!
As I started to head back on the beach to the parking lot I heard the unmistakable little peep of a Piping Plover! I kept scanning the beach as I walked very slowly and then spotted this precious tiny little shore bird…the Piping Plover…
Once again, I am totally left in awe and so grateful…