4:31pm. Tired. Difficult to work up the energy for anything although I know sitting for awhile, as I'm doing now, will recharge the batteries a bit.
Yesterday went to Pottsville. Took Mikaela as they have the dog beach. There is a tidal river which widens into a large lagoon with sand bars in the middle. The water is clear, the water is shallow and it is a haven for minnows and small fish. When we were returning from a walk along the beach we followed the river on a stone peppered sandy path which ran parallel and slightly above the river mouth giving us a pretty good look into the water.
A cormorant came and started swimming over the remains of what I think was a sabellarid reef (worm-built). We watched as it darted and turned and sprinted through the water. Have never had a view looking down on a swimming cormorant before. Then I noticed something else, as it circled and dove there was a brown smudge of a shadow around which it was turning. A bait ball! It was herding the fish into a bait ball and then arrowing in to snatch prey. I knew whales, sharks and dolphins did this but I didn't know cormorants did.
Some people were swimming/wading through the shallows toward the bird. When they got too close it abandoned the bait ball and swam parallel to the shore. The fish had been trying to find refuge in the reef remains. Those remains were the only spot in the channel that wasn't bare sand and the cormorant, even while keeping them in tight formation, was always trying to keep them away from the reef.
Amazing stuff. 4:54pm. (Took so long as I got sidetracked reading about sabellarid worms. Used to type up scientific papers when working at Harbor Branch for Dr. David Kirtley and another, female, Phd whose name escapes me).
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