Isla San Jose and Isla San Francisco, Baja California
A new year, time for reflection and resolution, for us comes with new experiences, new friends and new appreciation for the workings of the world. In these modern times most people find themselves in concentrated cities celebrating; we begin the year in the ocean and desert wilds of Baja California.
First thing first morning this year, mother and calf whale greet us, reminding us of the vast depth of our planet and the oceanic realm where generations of our mammalian brethren live on. This pair of little-known baleen animals, Bryde’s (Tropical) whales, rides past in tandem as hundreds of common dolphins course by.
As different as they are, the productive wet ecosystem of the Sea of Cortez and that of the dry desert islands and peninsula lie immediately adjacent to each other.
One buffer between the sea and land extremes here in the subtropics is the northern extent of mangrove communities. Riding a high tide we were able to enter a maze of these land-stabilizing plants that can set roots in salt water. Here in protective and productive backwaters, ibises, herons and egrets perched above as pufferfish, stingrays and upside down jellyfish glided below in the mangrove hedges. Back outside were large rafts of vulnerably molting eared grebes, surfacing and diving domino-style and peaceably floating beside the Sea Bird on our return.
One other in-between zone betwixt land and sea is the intertidal. At crescentine Isla San Francisco we discovered a multiple-phylum phantasmagoria of organisms in the rocks, where John Steinbeck once collected invertebrates that inspired his literature.
On the land proper here we wandered the intimate isle’s salt flats, desert margins and delicate ridge lines, discovering teddy bear cholla, flowering prickly pear and other hearty plants, as well as chunky chuckwallas and other lizard species. Tarantula hawk wasps, with Tarantinan life histories paralyzing large spiders to feed their young, crawled the rock crumble as hummingbirds zipped by.
One true highlight this New Year’s Day was a red-tailed hawk looping overhead as we climbed a summit outcropping for the expansive view over sea and island. This magnificent raptor was harangued at one point by a pair of determined ravens that escorted it across to the opposite hillside.
A beach barbecue and bonfire, complete with talented guitarists, clarinettists and singers, welcomed the New Year through the night. We revelled in the good company and musical accompaniment and pondered the bounty of sea, land and air we encountered this day as if it were the first.
A new year, time for reflection and resolution, for us comes with new experiences, new friends and new appreciation for the workings of the world. In these modern times most people find themselves in concentrated cities celebrating; we begin the year in the ocean and desert wilds of Baja California.
First thing first morning this year, mother and calf whale greet us, reminding us of the vast depth of our planet and the oceanic realm where generations of our mammalian brethren live on. This pair of little-known baleen animals, Bryde’s (Tropical) whales, rides past in tandem as hundreds of common dolphins course by.
As different as they are, the productive wet ecosystem of the Sea of Cortez and that of the dry desert islands and peninsula lie immediately adjacent to each other.
One buffer between the sea and land extremes here in the subtropics is the northern extent of mangrove communities. Riding a high tide we were able to enter a maze of these land-stabilizing plants that can set roots in salt water. Here in protective and productive backwaters, ibises, herons and egrets perched above as pufferfish, stingrays and upside down jellyfish glided below in the mangrove hedges. Back outside were large rafts of vulnerably molting eared grebes, surfacing and diving domino-style and peaceably floating beside the Sea Bird on our return.
One other in-between zone betwixt land and sea is the intertidal. At crescentine Isla San Francisco we discovered a multiple-phylum phantasmagoria of organisms in the rocks, where John Steinbeck once collected invertebrates that inspired his literature.
On the land proper here we wandered the intimate isle’s salt flats, desert margins and delicate ridge lines, discovering teddy bear cholla, flowering prickly pear and other hearty plants, as well as chunky chuckwallas and other lizard species. Tarantula hawk wasps, with Tarantinan life histories paralyzing large spiders to feed their young, crawled the rock crumble as hummingbirds zipped by.
One true highlight this New Year’s Day was a red-tailed hawk looping overhead as we climbed a summit outcropping for the expansive view over sea and island. This magnificent raptor was harangued at one point by a pair of determined ravens that escorted it across to the opposite hillside.
A beach barbecue and bonfire, complete with talented guitarists, clarinettists and singers, welcomed the New Year through the night. We revelled in the good company and musical accompaniment and pondered the bounty of sea, land and air we encountered this day as if it were the first.
