The Brants Go First

The brants go first, surprising me because I thought that there were only a couple on that rock amongst a hundred seagulls.  But, the brants went first, spooking and flying off, 25 or 30 of them with some of the gulls following and some of the gulls staying put and watching me pass. 

In the calm sea, I went outside the first rock at Merwin Point, putting the sun behind me so that I could see what I was looking at.  The clam boats are farther out today, a mile or two or three.  It's hard to say, but my camera says that it is infinite, just one of the endless lies of photography.  I hear a loon call, but cannot figure out which of the silhouetted birds made it.  There is, at least one loon, and that is enough.

The brants outnumber the gulls today, something I have not seen.  The migration must be on.  No longer is it the winter gathering of 5 or 15 geese.  Today, it is flocks of a hundred or more.  The world goes on.

I pass Oyster River Point and continue a ways farther.  There are a lot of jelly fish here.  Most are orange with symmetrical patterns in the body and long tendrils.  They vary from the size of a knuckle to the size of a hat.  Every once in awhile, I spot a different type. 

one of the orange jelly fish

They are an inch in diameter, spherical and with 8 white ribs on a clear body.  Two antenna like tendrils stick out of the top.  They look like tiny versions of the old communication satellites from the early 1960's.  I try, but can't get a photograph of them.