spring run signals

As we drove by the bay this morning, we noticed something floating about 100 feet offshore. It looked like fins, birds - we thought a whale? Seals? Actually a cluster of sealions awaiting the herring. They were just floating there; birds alighted then left, rain fell then stopped. It looked very zen, very peaceful. One big brown sealion in the middle seemed to provide a ballast for the group. Occasionally various fins lifted above then sank below the waterline. The rain began in earnest and as we left, a herring trawler was motoring its way towards the sealions, their early warning signal that the spring run is on its way.