Sea Birds

 

Three nights ago, in the English Channel, the Artania was accompanied by a swarm of seagulls at dusk. Presumably feeding off the scraps the ship was disposing of. Yesterday morning, they were back. Same crew of gulls? Or a second shift?  Land was visible about 20 km away. I wonder how far from land seagulls stray?

This morning, with the nearest land over 250 km away, we spotted a lone swallow. He swooped around the waters near the ship, then eventually flew in the direction of Casablanca and disappeared. 

I have been told that the numbers of birds one sees at sea has greatly diminished in the last decades. The early world explorers treated bird sightings as a sign they were approaching land. 

I, too, feel a certain emotional tug from a bird sighting at sea.