Mackerel Mayhem

The Mackerel have been here in Totman Cove so thick these past two days that the water is boiling with them from cove side to cove side. In the second photo, the water to the right of the Osprey is being splashed up by fish. Areas on the water as big as 100 feet across looked and sounded as if handfuls of rocks were being thrown. There have been as many as 10 Osprey at a time. Osprey are common here, but this time of year they are beginning to migrate and it's not so usual to see so many at once. They have been attacking the Bald eagles! There were four Bald eagles this morning when the tide was going out. Two of them were mature adults and fully balded. Neither of them had comb-overs, thankfully. They looked like a mated pair. I could tell because they were wearing wedding rings. The other two were juveniles. They caught mackerel, too but they weren't as good at it as the Herring gulls or the Osprey. The gulls could gulp down a whole, eight inch mackerel while still in flight! There were also three Harbor seals lapping it up. The word got out quickly and the fisherman had a go of it, too. These guys were gang line fishing. Two boats with purse seines got in on the action and this lovely woman wearing the schnauzer sweat shirt. As if this wasn't exciting enough, our dog trapped a mink under the steps that go down the bank to the shore. What a racket! The mink made this loud 'cccccaaaaaaaiiiiiik' noise over and over until we pulled the dog away. The mink got away and the dog went into the house and pouted all day. It was so exciting that I had to go Weed For Dollars because if I stayed home I would have had a nervous breakdown.