September 25, 2010

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A gorgeous morning for the SOLV beach cleanup – warm, sunny, light onshore breeze. My friends and I had been preceded by two groups of volunteers (Intel employees, a youth group) who had tackled beach cleanup on Bay Ocean peninsula earlier in the week. We followed up on their efforts and I’m happy to report that several long-established and well-used camp sites were completely cleared of trash.There were a number of folks enjoying a perfect fall day on the spit: hiking, picnicking, birding, and horseback riding. It was a great day for observing nature: In addition to the usual sights, we saw elk tracks in the sand on the northern end of mile (didn’t see the elk, but did see bow hunters in the parking lot) and an emaciated California sea lion hauled out on the sand.However, the most astounding thing I witnessed was something I’d never seen before – a flight of thousands (even hundreds of thousands, maybe) of the same species of dragonflies, all heading south, flying along the dunes just inside the fore dune and just above the dune grass. I had no idea such a thing could occur – I’ve never seen more than a handful of dragonflies in one location at a time. As I stood still, I’m sure I was passed by a steady stream of 30-50 per minute – the air was dotted with them as far as I could see both to the south and to the north. They were flying in a relatively narrow formation, no wider than probably 25-30 feet at any given location. None of them landed anywhere – they all just kept resolutely heading south. It was absolutely beautiful – their wings glistened golden in the sunlight as they flew and it looked like a sparkling insect extravaganza. I regret that I don’t know enough about dragonflies to identify the species. A truly miraculous spectacle, one I feel blessed to have seen!