For my final day on Helgoland, I took a very short ferry ride to nearby Dune Island. The island is known for its two seal colonies. People apparently also use it as a beach site. I brought out my wildlife lens and started on the west side of the island, as advised online. What they neglected to inform me was that nude bathing was allowed. I spotted some skin colored people in the distance, jumping in the waves, and sure enough, it was a bunch of nude bathers. I was in the unfortunate situation of carrying a massive lens on a camera. I kept the lens facing downward or obviously pointed at the sky for birds. This was my first nude beach experience, as my attempt to find one in Italy, in 2016, failed.
 |
| This is the tiny, tiny airport on the island. |
These next four pictures were my favorite seal pictures of the day, taken from two different spots.
As I was taking pictures of my first seal spotting, I heard an engine behind me. I turned around, and a small plane was taking off. I spotted a few more planes flying in an out. They appeared to be of tourists. One had a passenger with his cell phone out, taking a picture.
The seals on the island are highly socialized and used to being around humans. They were curious and playful. They would swim toward me and pop their head out of the water. While I had my attention elsewhere, one snuck up onto the beach just a few feet away, and ducked back into the water before I could snap a picture.
 |
| These two bird pictures aren't great, but it shows the fish that they were catching. |
On the northeast corner of the island were many more seals. The great thing about the island is how the people really kept away from the seals and gave them their space, respectfully. This allowed the seals to be comfortable.
 |
| This was the only set of hairy looking seals that I found. |
That night had the most sunshine of any night on the island. A strange thing occurred. The domesticated sheep that roamed the island wandered onto the edge of the cliff where the baby birds and their mothers were perched. This included the curious baby sheep. The mothers panicked. They tried jumping around in order to scare off the sheep, but when this did not work, they eventually chose to fly away. The baby birds that had matured enough to move on their own, tried dragging themselves away, with the assistance of their wings. The sheep eventually moved on. It took a while for the mothers to come back. I worried for a bit because one of the babies had moved about eight feet away, and the mother returned to the original spot. She seemed unaware of the fact that her baby had moved. I consulted a local photographer, along with Jeremy, who assured me that they would reunite with one another. In any case, there was nothing that I could do.
 |
| In addition to showing the baby sheep, this shot also shows the devastation of the avian flu. |
No comments:
Post a Comment