The thing had surfaced in the middle of the river, a little southwest of the Saint John’s Bridge, to swallow a large fish it had caught. My new friend and I were in a grove of aspens by the shore looking at an osprey harassing a bald eagle. It turns out they were both trying to steal fish bits from the seal.
But the seal quickly ate its catch and went back under. Then a group of gulls moved in.
I was astonished: an osprey harassing an eagle that was trying to steal a fish from a sea lion that was in a river far from its native range.
It turns out California sea lions (subadult and adult males) have learned to go as far as Willamette Falls on the Willamette and the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia. They consume huge amounts of fish and cause problems for the sustainability of the native sturgeon and steelhead.
I shouldn’t be astonished that a sea lion was there. I have long borne witness to the endless resourcefulness of living things. We’re in the grip of a new virus that swept the globe thanks to its ability to jump species. My friend and I were in fact hiking through a Superfund site (not an official trail) where nature had bounced back on a former creosoting yard. At home I’m propagating a million little succulents that I used to always overwater to the point of rot.
pseudoisaac 