A friend called from down on the beach yesterday to say a huge flock of pelicans, more than a hundred, had gathered, drawn by a school of fish swimming quite close to shore. (And check out the cormorants, their slick little heads barely poking out of the water.)

There was a tiny swell and the sea surged and rolled and so did the flock, ever in flux, tracking fish, dodging waves.

And then, at a signal none of us standing on shore could see, the pelicans took flight, headed north, left the low-rider cormorants behind.