I went to Saltwater State Park today and, in the midst of the varied weather
of the day, I saw a huge number of Surf Scoters feeding merrily on what
looked like shellfish, two White-Winged Scoters, both Common and Barrows
Goldeneye, two cormorants in the water and one drying his wings on a buoy,
one merganser too far away to determine species and, of course,
Glaucous-Winged Gulls.
Can anyone explain the following phenomenon: there were mussel shells
everywhere, on the ground, all over the parking lot, the picnic benches and
the sea-wracked logs? How did they all get there? There were easily a
thousand broken shells. Was this the remnants of a gull feeding frenzy? Did
it rain mussels? Some of them were quite far from the beach.
Rahne Kirkham
Federal Way, Washington
"I am in Love and out of Him I will not go."
C.S.Lewis "The Great Divorce"