There were seals flopping around in Elliot Bay while I was down their today. They were splashing around and making so much noise that for a moment, before I had a good look, I thought they might be orcas. They were swimming back and forth, floating on their backs and waving their flippers in the air, jumping up out of the water, turning somersaults, and just generally making a ruckus. Very unusual – in the past all of the seals I’ve seen in Elliot Bay have been pretty sedate, only surfacing long enough to catch a quick breath before heading back underwater to catch some fish.
At one point the seals were only about ten yards away from the pier and I was walking alongside them trying to get a good photo. They stopped short and one of them looked up at me – his face was bigger and fuller than I’d expected. I’m anthropomorphizing here, but the expression on his face seemed to be saying something along the lines of, “What the hell do you think you’re looking at?”
I was mulling this over a few minutes ago, when I was posting today’s Horizon photo, and it dawned on me. I did a quick Google-search that, had I landed on someone’s weblog, would have been borderline-eligible for Disturbing Search Requests. My suspicion was confirmed. It’s mating season. Oops. Sorry, guys. I’ll leave you alone next time.