Worst Blog Ever

As it was such a wonderful day yesterday, Kristie and I took the dogs for a long walk along Owhiro Bay, specifically to Red Rocks, seal haul out as our destination.  Like I said, it was such a nice sunny day, it seemed a shame to waste inside.  We took the dogs along too, as they enjoy being off leash there.  We didn't expect to see any seals at all, as it was still kind of chilly out, but there were masses of seals!  Tonnes of them...literally.

Kristie was the first to discover them, by accident actually.  We were walking along, and every now and then we'd walk off the trail, towards the ocean.  I was a little further on, taking some pictures of the water, when I heard Kristie shout: "Oh My God!  Walnut...no...come!"  Apparently, Kristie and Walnut were just a couple metres from a basking seal, and Walnut was off leash!  While a Tibetan Terrier and seal don't generally come into close contact to each other much in the wild, I'd put my money on the seal.  Luckily, Kristie grabbed Walnut by his collar and dragged him away without the seal giving them too much notice.

In actuality, there were about three seals in very close proximity to where Kristie was, it is just that when the seals are basking, and are dry, their colouring is a lot like the surrounding rocks; kind of a dull grey.  Other than the pungent odors, you could easily fail to notice them if you weren't looking for them.

Luckily, Walnut didn't seem to show much interest in them, which is strange as he pretty much doesn't believe that any other animals have a right to exist, and usually has no issues telling them his opinion.

By the way, did you know that a group of seals has like five or six different terms?  They can be known as: a bob, a heard, a colony, a rookery, a crash, a harem, a pod, a spring or a team.  Who knew?

There are at least seven seals in this photo.  See if you can find them all.