Dead seal on Long Beach

Gray vistas spanned the beat of life and death in nature and prompted basic questions about shelter and what do you think happened here?  We stepped over a seagull’s still and headless body and a fury of feathers. Seagulls were fighting over the remains of a sting ray we thought was a horseshoe crab. They didn’t want to see the dead seal. Was it the same seal we saw resting yesterday, the seal my son was relieved to report he saw dip back into the sea? Maybe, I said. A passerby asked if I reported it to a wildlife agency. Enough nature for one morning, my sons turned home to shoot hoops. We heard the sweet sounds from piping plovers, someone raking seaweed, and joyous chatter from a family of 4 swimming before the coming storm.