On The Border of the Sea

I spotted the sparrow gleaning insects on the lawn, near Heceta Head, by the historic lighthouse. The views at Heceta Head are some of the most scenic along the Oregon Coast, where the Pacific Ocean converges with tall cliffs and headlands, that are densely forested with Sitka spruce, western hemlock and lodgepole pine. The waves were busy as usual restructuring the beaches and granite bluffs and breaker after breaker washed ashore lunging and smashing into stubborn stone, in a relentless tumultuous roar, crash and thunder. Dark banks of fog, bear hugged the coast line, framing endless gray and whitish colored breakers, and a ribbon of blue sky wedged in over our heads.

We saw several whales just off shore, and they seemed to be lazily feeding, and rolling in the waves, showing only their backs, and the occasional spout of fine mist that appeared like a tiny geyser. The wafts of whale smoke drifted for dozens of yards with the wind, like some spot fire had been ignited, then quickly eradicated by vigilant waves. I guessed they were Gray Whales, on their annual migration, averaging 10,000 to 14,000 miles south to the Baja in Mexico. A population estimated at 22,000 animals, mostly found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Their cousins in the North Atlantic were hunted to extinction many years ago, a staggering loss of an extraordinary mammal.

Later that afternoon we climbed down a rocky spine along the cliffs, where the ocean surf boiled up a narrow slot, a fracture in the granite wall. The water seemed to boil in this constricted cauldron as the one wave after another collided each other and the rock walls. A sea otter was spotted swimming in the white foamy gray waves and propelled forward by a large wave he jumped up on a dry ledge. Two smaller otters quickly followed and the 3 of them wrestled on the rocks, in mock combat but obviously showing great affection for each other. They seemed as comfortable on land as they did in the ocean, and several times they dove back into the water, reappearing several minutes later, sometimes with a fish.

After returning home I studied the pages in my bird book showing the different species of sparrows, of which there are many. Comparing the picture I had taken with the photos in the book, it looked to be a song sparrow but the match wasn't all the great. I did some looking on the web and and found that there are many about 24 subspecies or regional variation in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), and they can vary widely in color and even size and the one I had seen spotted, looked to be of the pacific northwestern region type.

It was fantastic to see song sparrows feeding in the meadow adjacent to the ocean while at the same time being able to spot whales in the water half a mile away, and sea otters in both environments. The sparrow weighing in at 7/10th of an ounce and the Gray Whale up to 36 tons and the otter holding the middle ground at perhaps a whooping 50 pounds.

I never tire of visiting the edge of the sea, with its wilderness of waves and open ocean, and the birds, fish and sea mammals.