Sea Urchin

One theme of this morning’s walk was, “animals are avoiding you.”

Technically it began as I walked along the side of the road to the trailhead, and the occasional oncoming cars swerved aside to give me more room, but I didn’t really pick up on it as a theme until a bit later.

When I got out onto the rocks some goldfinches in the trees flew away;

Walking along the seawall two does came from behind a rosebush and ran off inland;

At the first lagoon behind the seawall a mother duck and her ducklings came out from the reeds and swam away;

As I rounded the point an osprey perched in a tree flew off;

At the second lagoon I came across a buck with velvety antlers who snorted and disappeared into the trees as I approached;

When I went down by the water crabs scurried away and hid under the seaweed;

Coming around the cove at low tide the seagulls in the shallow water flew off to a nearby ledge;

I tried to photograph a bee inside the rose blossoms along the trail but they all flew away whenever I got close;

Walking across the next cobblestone beach little spiders kept scurrying away and hiding under the rocks as I walked along;

Walking through the woods back to the car a red squirrel chattered at me and scampered into a tree.


Which is why my photo is of this sea urchin. It was probably trying to get away as well, but fortunately for me it moves much slower than most animals.