[EBB Sightings] Saturday on Delphinus

Saturday's lighthouse tour upon the Delphinus with Captain Ronn Patterson provided more than a fascinating history and tour of the bay and it's lighthouses.
   
  On the birding end of things, the most stunning sight was a raft of possibly 1,000s of Clark's and Western grebes that stretched approximately two miles along the interior edge of what I believe is called Bonita bay (the shallow inlet east from Point Bonita heading toward the gate).  I truly could barely comprehend what I was seeing and don't think that I have collectively in my entire life seen so many grebes.
  Ronn was discussing a visible conflux of water where a foam line had developed between two distinctly different bodies of water.  Apparently water coming in from the Pacific was mixing with water coming out from the bay and delta, both with different temperatures, life forms and other characteristics, that when mixed create a rich kind of watery stew.
  Other than the protection the birds enjoyed in this relatively quiet inlet, I wonder if the stirring of the water had attracted them as well, although most of them were sitting quietly on the surface.
  Another exciting sighting was a Harbor Seal with a bright rusty orange pelt.  I've spent plenty of time on and in the water and have never seen this (although Ronn said that he has on occasion).  I assume some kind of recessive gene situation.
   
  Thank you Ronn for another exciting and enlightening (pardon the pun) day out on the beautiful Delphinus.
   
  Pamela Llewellyn
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