By Sally Torbey
About this blog: About this blog: I have enjoyed parenting five children in Palo Alto for the past two decades and have opinions about everything to do with parenting kids (and dogs). The goal of my blog is to share the good times and discuss the ...
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About this blog: About this blog: I have enjoyed parenting five children in Palo Alto for the past two decades and have opinions about everything to do with parenting kids (and dogs). The goal of my blog is to share the good times and discuss the challenges of having a satisfying family life in a community where parents set a high bar for themselves, their children, and the schools and organizations that educate and socialize them. I grew up in the Midwest, attended a small liberal arts college on the East Coast and graduated from medical school in Chicago. I left a pediatric residency to care for our then infant son and spent the next dozen years contentedly gestating and lactating while having four more children. My husband grew up in the Middle East, came to the US for graduate school and works in high tech. Our eldest son graduated from a UC, and after working in the Middle East for a few years, now attends law school in NYC. Our eldest daughter graduated from a Midwestern Big Ten University and is a journalist in Texas. Our middle child studies engineering at a UC. The youngest two girls are in middle and high school in PAUSD. We are celebrating 20 years as PAUSD parents! I volunteer in the public schools, our church, and scouting.
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The best thing about kayaking in
Elkhorn Slough near Moss Landing is that the sea otters have not read the rules about staying 50 feet away from the kayaks. Neither have the harbor seals. We try to keep an appropriate distance from the wildlife, but some of the otters and the seals are so intensely curious about visitors that their heads pop up right next to our boat to check us out. It makes us wonder, who is watching whom here?
My daughter and I spent a morning last week on a leisurely paddle in the slough enjoying the abundance of wildlife. No need for binoculars as the brown pelicans swooped by us skimming the water, jelly fish floated by, terns circled over head, and harbor seals of all ages and sizes lolled, or scrambled up and slid down the muddy banks. Tall, majestic egrets and great blue herons fished in the shallows, still as statues, and cormorants dove for fish or dried their spread wings in the marshes. A crowd of California sea lions occupying a dock could be heard (and smelled) from afar, we kept our distance!
We were especially excited to spot a group of one of the largest birds in North America, the white pelican. The birds are five-foot tall with an impressive nine-foot wingspan. We paddled along side the pelicans as they formed a line in the water and cooperatively herded the fish together to facilitate catching their meal. Unlike the spectacular dive-bombing of the brown pelicans, the white pelicans catch fish like ungainly ducks, tipping forward into the water, tail feathers and big rumps straight up in the air, scooping up the fish in their massive fleshy pouched bills. Awkward looking but clearly effective!
As fascinating as the huge pelicans are, I still find the sea otters the most irresistible creatures in the slough and can watch their antics endlessly. We watched a mother and pup wrestling and rolling together over and under the water. The pup would swim off, the mother in hot pursuit, only to have the pup spin around and tackle her again.
We love that if we paddle quietly, pay attention, and keep what distance we can, we are up close and personal witnesses of the birds and animals of the slough. I return from even a few hours on the slough all the better for the experience.