From an old one. Grandma, why do you need such big fangs?!
The length of the canines in walruses is one of the main signs of hierarchical rank in the herd.
When they gather in large companies on ice or coastal deposits, they constantly show their fangs to others. This is a signal by which potential rivals evaluate the power of their neighbor and do not engage in senseless quarrels for a comfortable place on the rookery. Young walruses try to get out of the way as soon as possible, and only equally large fangs can be a reason for a short-term fight.
Kolyuchin Island, October 2006.
From an old one. The pupil of the ocean
The island of Kolyuchin, lost in the Chukchi Sea, is a kind of pointed cucumber, directed almost strictly to the North Pole. In autumn, when the ice completely disappears for miles around, it’s time for storms.
A harsh wind hits the rocks of the northern tip of the island and divides into two streams that encircle the island from both shores. The same thing happens with the stormy sea. The waves rush along both the west coast and the east coast, meeting at the wide southern base of the island, where there is a relative calm.
The collision of waves and wind flows becomes a catalyst for the appearance of breakers several meters high, which, like giant wheels, roll past my little field beam, hiding some fifteen hundred meters from the water’s edge. The piquancy is added by a long shoal stretching from the island to the south, to the throat of the Kolyuchinsky lip. Crashing into a shoal, the breakers explode in myriad foam splashes, dazzling if a ray of sunlight breaks through the storm clouds.
When all the routes and household chores were completed, and the kettle on the primus was already boiling, hiding from the gusts of wind, I settled into the annex, and sipping hot coffee, admired this endless rally of breakers. I tried to capture particularly inspiring waves with a camera that was always at hand.
It was a happy time.
A photo memory from September 2012.
From the new one. Waiting for a shoal of [fish]
Following up on the previous post, I am re-publishing one of the pictures that preceded the very accident, as a result of which I had to deal with expensive repairs of the camera and lens.
When I noticed that the burgomasters and silver gulls began to unite in large flocks, to be nervous and wait for something, I immediately guessed that there was some important reason for this. And you don’t need to be a genius to figure out that this reason lies in the possibility of eating a lot and tasty. The very next day, dozens of ringed seals and lakhtaks pulled into the bay, and a day later, residents of the nearby village of Ryrkaypiy with nets and buckets.
Saika came.
Cape Schmidt, September 11, 2023
By Anatoly Kochnev
