Sunday, March 14, 2010

it's different this year



we've just had the mildest winter in memory. normally in early spring, newfoundland would be surrounded by miles of pack ice. this year there's hardly any. the mother seals need ice to give birth on. this past weekend the ice came into port aux chois on the northern penninsula. 10,000 seals. the constant calls of babies and mothers seeking each other out. on the way down to the cabin yessterday we spotted 2 seals on small sheets of ice. any other year the bay of islands would still be frozen over...

3 comments:

Shammickite said...

Last night I saw a news item on TV about the seals giving birth on the ice, and the fact that there may not be a sealing season this year. It's been a mild wintere here in S Ontario too, my snow tires only had to drive on snowy roads twice the whole winter. Nice, but scary.... what's the summer going to be like?

Janet Davis said...

According to my dad, 1979 was exactly the same kind of weather, without ice, and seals were pupping on shore next to stages and chopping blocks.
I'm hoping we're having an early spring, to make up for the crummy weather from August-December of '09.

bluebird of paradise said...

I hope no one harms them....