The Big Orr-Orrs

I can't claim I came up with this term myself as the descriptor for seals, sea lions, and other noisy pinnipeds--Annie gets the credit for that--but I have enthusiastically adopted it.

That's why I was especially pleased to encounter such a noisy pack of sea lions last December when I was in San Francisco. I don't think the video clip below is worth much aesthetically, but it gives a great sense of just how noisy these guys are.

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One good shot: the gang

From my December visit to Pier 39 in San Francisco, where the sea lions were lolling about in vast numbers, "orr-orr-orr"-ing, fighting, swimming, and using one another as deck chairs.

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Three haikus on San Francisco beasts

Floating and falling,
the gulls swirl like flecks of ash:
risen from what fire?

Sky of clouded pearl.
The gulls sweep like music struck
from the Bridge’s strings.

Companionable
sausages, the sea lions
sardine each other.


[And this also concludes the Just Go Do It Photo Challenge for Day 17: Colors.]

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In which I demonstrate great powers of recovery

Coming back from the dead-tired after a week-long conference, I have not forgotten the 30-day photo challenge (see biobabbler’s blog for more).

Many of the following photos were taken on their appropriate day last week, others—well, weren’t.

A friend:

Joey and I have been friends since 7th grade (I used to be taller). We were in Delaware together this October.


Humans meet nature: what better example than a building touched by rainbow?

Beauty:

I spied these rain-beaded leaves lying on the wooden curb surrounding a tree on the sidewalk on my walk to work, proving that even the grimy streets of Dupont Circle are crammed with loveliness.


Dance and shadows (two in one):

These autumn sweet-gum leaves were on the verge of a gavotte, I’m sure.


Artificial light:

Outside in (I was inside my hotel room taking a picture of the sunset behind these buildings):

A face: San Francisco sea lions! (more in a later post)

Animals:

This is a ladybug larva. I think they look like crazy lion-spiky-monsters from old bestiaries.


Water:

Sky:

The stranger:

Technically I was the stranger in this mew gull’s winter habitat, but I had never seen one before (look at that tiny little bill!), so I’m saying that counts.

More soon, this time with words!

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Ghostly

First there’s nothing but the dim blue water, lanced with beams of sun. And then, faintly, as if formed from the currents, she glides towards you, limned with light.

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Her Look

What I like most are those eyes,
disks wide as the full moon,
twin Os that open on the darkness
of deep water.

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“For Kids”

[please note: this is a sea lion,
not a seal, but she is a kid]

Yesterday as I was looking through science-news headlines I saw one titled “For Kids: Seal Science.”

Wait a minute! I thought. I want to learn about seal science, too! Why is all the cool stuff always for kids?

I admit that that’s a generalization. Thanks in part to the internet and social media, there’s a lot more popular science out there directed at all audiences—which is great. And yet so often anything to do with animals (think zoos, among other things) is presented as being only of interest to—or the exclusive purview of—children.

I think this is a shame, since it makes adults who get excited about animals feel childish and embarrassed—or the science itself never gets on their radar because it’s targeted at kids.

Have you noticed this too?

What about science’s presentation to popular audiences bothers you?

[P.S. Check yesterday’s post's comments for the answer to the mystery-animal game!]

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Other Worlds

I don’t myself believe that there are celestial beings crowding the firmament, but I’ve always thought that if angels did exist they would look like sea lions in water: those sleek bodies, that broad-shouldered sweep of wings. (“Pinniped” does mean “feather-foot,” after all.)

What do your divine or supernatural beings look like? Do you envision stalk-eyed fly sprites or porcupine kobolds or cephalopod deities?

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Happy Valentine's Day!

(Have you ever noticed that sea lions have heart-shaped nostrils?)

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