Just before low tide....

The first thing I do when I sit down at my computer in the morning is to check the tide table.  Why? The best time to visit the beach is about an hour before low tide - or, perhaps I should say an hour before the low tide turns.  If it is in the morning or evening, and is an exceptionally low tide, even better. That's when the birds flock down to feed on the marine life revealed by the outgoing tide.

This morning, low tide was due to turn around 11:30, and it was going to be a low low tide.  Maggie and I headed to the beach about 10:00 - it's only a couple of blocks from home, but the low tide means another good long walk to reach the water's edge.  Our beach is seldom busy, especially in the morning, and seldom does anyone walk to the end where the eagles are.  With the 30x zoom lens on my little camera, I don't have to get close to the eagles, but I do appreciate the morning solitude - later in the day, there will always be a few yahoos who think it is okay to let their off leash dogs chase the birds, or who stride right into the midst of the eagles, disturbing their feeding window and causing them to fly further off.

On our way to the best eagle smorgasbord, we first passed an area full of sand collars - the egg casings of Lewis's Moon Snail.  The eggs are sandwiched between two layers of sand which are held together with mucus.  The end result looks something like an old tire washed up on the beach - they range in size from a toddler's bike tire to a car tire.  The eggs hatch in mid summer, and the adult moon snail is bigger than my hand, with a slimy looking 'foot' that often is so large it can't fit in the shell.

Lewis's Moon Snail Egg Casing

Egg Casing under water

We also saw a number of heron, as well as the usual gulls and crows, in the tidal pools and along the water's edge search for breakfast:

Heron watching an eagle above. While eagles do eat heron eggs and chicks,
they also occasionally attack and eat adults.  Despite this, most herons don't seem too afraid of
the eagles on the beach.

This heron was more interested in finding breakfast than in worrying about eagles! 

Maggie will sometimes try to chase gulls (she is on leash, so she can't reach them), but always sits quietly when I am photographing herons or eagles.  Again, with the zoom lens, I don't have to get too close to them, so they seldom even notice her.  In areas where there are no birds, she is allowed to do her happy, barky, silly dance.  She loves the beach!

Maggie doing her beach time happy dance.

As we approach the end of the sandy beach, we can easily see the eagles among the rocks, their white heads bobbing around as they grab their quarry.  The juveniles - those not yet four or five years old, the age at which their heads turn white - are harder to spot.

Someone forgot to tell them about social distancing!

Easy to see where the term "eagle-eyed" comes from!

As I was watching and photographing the dozens of eagles, a raft of sea lions humped their way through the waters - about six of them.  I saw them only as I lowered the camera after shooting a group of four eagles. But when I uploaded the photos, I discovered I can captured one of them in the background on the left hand side.

Sea lion body surfing on the left.

Half the fun of doing photography is those unexpected discoveries when the photos appear on the computer screen - the things you didn't realize you'd seen.  I thought this next photo was an eagle whose feathers were being ruffled by the wind - it was too far away to see clearly, except for a lot of white on the top.  Turns out, it was the elusive two-headed eagle! 😁

Two-headed eagle!

And that's how Maggie and I spent our morning.  I hope you are surrounded by beauty where you live too.