Boca de la Soledad, Magdalena Bay
Every time we come to the northernmost entrance of Magdalena Bay, called Boca de la Soledad (Mouth of Solitude) we mostly think of the gray whales who come here every winter for calving. However, we tend to forget other marvels that can be found in this interesting and vast mosaic of habitats. The gray whales are certainly arriving to the three calving lagoons along the Pacific shores of the Baja peninsula, but most pregnant females haven‘t made their appearance into them, including Boca de la Soledad. Today, on our Zodiac boats with the always friendly company of our local guides, we were not successful in finding gray whales (except in the afternoon when a couple of adults were seen swimming and diving randomly at the entrance, and then turned outwards). So after intense searching, we decided to explore the shores and the numerous channels with mangroves that extend for miles and miles.
In this way we found quiet and self confident bottle-nosed dolphins that stayed in our presence for as long as an hour. On the land and also from the boats we observed coyotes patrolling their territories and looking for food. On the numerous sand bars of the lagoon (many recently formed by huge accumulations of sand) we went close to fishing eagles or ospreys and literally thousands of different sea and shore birds, like double-crested cormorants, frigates, marbled godwits, whimbrels, American white pelicans, white ibises, terns, gulls, and great blue herons, among others. Of course, the brown pelicans delighted us with their fantastic technique of plunge-diving for fish. Some were captured by our cameras.
At the end of the day we had a long list of marvels offered by and seen in Magdalena Bay, a unique and special place in the world.
Every time we come to the northernmost entrance of Magdalena Bay, called Boca de la Soledad (Mouth of Solitude) we mostly think of the gray whales who come here every winter for calving. However, we tend to forget other marvels that can be found in this interesting and vast mosaic of habitats. The gray whales are certainly arriving to the three calving lagoons along the Pacific shores of the Baja peninsula, but most pregnant females haven‘t made their appearance into them, including Boca de la Soledad. Today, on our Zodiac boats with the always friendly company of our local guides, we were not successful in finding gray whales (except in the afternoon when a couple of adults were seen swimming and diving randomly at the entrance, and then turned outwards). So after intense searching, we decided to explore the shores and the numerous channels with mangroves that extend for miles and miles.
In this way we found quiet and self confident bottle-nosed dolphins that stayed in our presence for as long as an hour. On the land and also from the boats we observed coyotes patrolling their territories and looking for food. On the numerous sand bars of the lagoon (many recently formed by huge accumulations of sand) we went close to fishing eagles or ospreys and literally thousands of different sea and shore birds, like double-crested cormorants, frigates, marbled godwits, whimbrels, American white pelicans, white ibises, terns, gulls, and great blue herons, among others. Of course, the brown pelicans delighted us with their fantastic technique of plunge-diving for fish. Some were captured by our cameras.
At the end of the day we had a long list of marvels offered by and seen in Magdalena Bay, a unique and special place in the world.
