Like many seldom-visited beaches, Port Heiden’s sandy expanses are FILLED with randomness. Mostly, the oddities are just detritus from the sea, like driftwood, carcasses, shells, and whatnot. But some of this debris can be unexpectedly beautiful.
I’ve enjoyed collecting sea glass, shells, and colorful rocks (more on those in future posts). But such windfalls are diamonds in the rough.
The things you’re far more prone to find are slightly less colorful and marginally more unnerving. Like this poor seal, who likely thought to get an easy meal from some fishing nets, but received a bullet to the neck instead.
And then there are moments when the beach reveals utterly baffling articles.
Behold, the Inexplicable Onion of 2017:
After a few seconds of consideration, I decided to leave the onion where it was and declined to see if it was still edible. With a few more minutes of contemplation, I figured the onion probably fell overboard from one of the many offshore fishing craft.
Perhaps a boat’s cook was engaged in a spirited game of catch, but someone with slippery fish fingers dropped the ball…erm, onion?
One sight is as common as it is grotesque: vivisected seagulls.
According to friends in Port Heiden, eagles regularly pick off soaring seagulls. The raptors fly high above the gulls, then swoop down in a steep dive for a mid-air strike.
Once their quarry is on the ground, the eagles dine on the torso and heads (eyeballs, yum!), leaving naught but the wings and bones for scavengers. People have seen eagles feasting on gulls that are still alive, screeching until their throats are too damaged to continue. Though I’ve never seen this myself, I imagine it’s a brutal sight. Nature is cruel at times.
Tomorrow’s post will feature some (markedly less gruesome) shots from a time-honored beach activity: bonfires!
Till then, take care and thanks for reading.
Alaska: Village to Village 