A Gray Day with a Surprise Gray Whale
I frequently wander the coast looking for birds to photograph. Sometimes, though, I go to the beach simply to sit on a towel and read and read a book.
I have learned to bring my camera either way. Something memorable always seems to appear when my gear is somewhere else.
On this overcast day in Newport Beach, there were not many birds around. My binoculars and camera stayed tucked inside my backpack while I settled in with my book.
Then something caught my eye.
A Gray Whale!
I pulled out my camera as quickly as I could. The whale was barely offshore, close enough that we could see its eye from the beach. It rolled through the shallow waves for nearly half an hour, occasionally disappearing beneath the gray water before rising again.
It may have been feeding, although I could not tell exactly what it was doing. Gray Whales sometimes feed opportunistically during their migration, and some remain along the Southern California coast instead of continuing directly north.
I have gone whale watching from boats before, which is always exciting. This encounter felt different. I was standing on the sand with a book in my hand while an enormous whale moved through the water directly in front of me.
Gray Whales can reach nearly 50 feet in length. Their mottled skin is often covered with barnacles and other marine organisms, giving them the rough, textured appearance that makes them so recognizable.
The whale eventually continued along the coast, leaving me on the beach with my camera finally out of the bag. It was a wonderfully unexpected reminder that even a quiet, gray afternoon can change in an instant.
