Pacific Northwest, late November 2016
The other day several of us folks were walking the beach near sunset. I was looking for birds as usual, and enjoying the last of the diffuse light on that miraculously dry winter afternoon. A Double-crested cormorant was catching some rays too, perched on a buoy, wings spread wide. The light breeze felt peaceful after days of blustery weather.
A big yellow dog trotted by with his person, who tossed a stick out into the shallow water for him now and then. The big yellow dog was a great swimmer, bounding in after the stick, snatching it up, swinging around and dog-paddling back to the beach for a good shake. How can you not smile seeing a big yellow dog having such a good time?
Turns out I wasn’t only one watching the big yellow dog rambling down the beach and chasing the stick.
Friendly Seal “stands up” to see what’s happening on the beach
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I couldn’t be sure at the time it was the Friendly Seal, although she’s the only seal I know who hangs out in this bay cruising so close to shore and so interested in activity there. Later when I looked at my pictures, fuzzy as they were from the dim late afternoon light, I could easily see her unique markings: the constellation of half-moons behind her left ear and the omega behind her right.
Friendly Seal followed the dog and man all the way down the beach about 30-50 feet offshore, diving and circling around the dog when it paddled out for the stick, and then watching it closely as it returned to the beach.
Dog and man passed me again on their way back up the beach. We exchanged a few words — I complimented him on his wonderful dog so captivating to the seal, and he remarked as how the seal had been following them for the past 20 minutes, up and down the beach.
Big Yellow Dog, stick and man
Did the dog notice the seal? If so, it was not put off by her presence being totally focused on the stick. FS showed no interest in the stick itself sailing through the air, splashing into the water. I’ve tried playing catch with her using a ball and she completely ignores it. She likes objects when humans are attached to them, like our paddles, kayaks, and my plankton net.
Dog chasing the stick way out in the water — Oh, my favorite thing! Throw the stick again!
I know this is hard to see in the picture below, and the wide-angle lens makes everything look farther away than it is, but the big yellow dog is returning to the beach, while Friendly Seal trails it from a distance.
I watched all three of them continue on down the beach.
Aquatic and terrestrial critters overlap in the shallow water by the beach
FS tossed her head in their direction, a gesture I’ve seen before when she’s invited us to come out in our kayaks. Her communication with us land creatures is non-verbal — usually mysterious but sometimes understandable. She does not come ashore on this beach (I have never seen it anyway); any playing is on her turf. I wonder what she thinks when we walk away from the beach...perhaps it’s similar to what we wonder about her, swimming away in the ocean.
Come out and play again, Big Yellow Dog!
Friendly Seal is such a character! I am lucky to know her.
This is why I go out to the beach every day, even on the short, grey, wet and chilly days of winter. You never know what lovely moment you might be treated to.
Time for you to share what you’re seeing in your natural neighborhood . . .
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