Peter Borgemeister, Beth Dock and I will make the trip in my small but comfortable lobster boat. Our course is to head east toward Falkners Island, rounding the inside of Bear Island, then turning south toward Outer Island following the east side of the Thimbles until approaching Commander Rocks.

The bay overlooking the dikes at the mouth of the river is full of migratory birds. The mergansers fly up first, then the buffleheads. The boat has frightened them, but they will return as we pass to start their morning feeding activities, preen themselves and relax in this protective area.

We are passing Baines Island now, also known as the Narrows, and there is no sign of a seal yet. My hopes are not down, for every day of the last two weeks of lobstering, I've seen the seals, with the largest group consisting of nine. Generally, I've seen one or two at a time.

Armed with my binoculars, I scan Commander Rocks in the distance. At first it appears to be a large black buoy. Peter and Beth seem excited. I am relieved to see it is a harbor seal.

Upon our approach, we see there are two seals, then a third emerges. We have gotten to within 50 feet, the motor in neutral, idling slowly. They seem, as usual, more curious than alarmed as we film them; we enjoy watching them submerge and emerge feeding in the shallow waters.

The Commander Rocks, also known as Cobble Rocks, were donated to the Land Trust by Patricia A. Childers in 1996. After joining the Land Trust and telling Peter of my employment on the waters of Stony Creek, he asked if I would like to be the Tract Steward of this small chain of mostly half-tide rocks. I agreed. To this day, the seals are my only recorded visitors, other than some herring and black back gulls.

After seeing the seals, I decided to do some research on these wonderful creatures. I learned that the harbor seal population is growing. There are between seven to nine thousand harbor seals on the east coast, with approximately 500 wintering in Long Island Sound. 300 of them at Fishers Island! Some of them go as far south as New Jersey with an occasional sighting in Delaware and Maryland.

At one time, there was a bounty on them, one dollar for each seal delivered to a state of Maine town hall. As of 1972, the Marine Mammal Protection Act put an end to that, and the Indians of Maine are no longer allowed to harvest them for food or hides.

Seals kept in captivity have lived to the age of 33, and it is presumed they may live longer. They feed on small fish four to eight inches in length; herring, shad, mackerel, alewives, squid and sand eels are their main staple. They generally feed at high water, then relax and sun themselves at low water.

Adult harbor seals can weigh up to 240 pounds and measure five feet long. Newborn pups weigh around 19 pounds. Usually, one pup is born; if there are two, the second is usually abandoned. They breed in Maine and bring up their pups there. The mother's milk is ten times as rich as cow's milk, but the young seals feed on fish within a month. The seal pups are born with no fat, and are less buoyant, making them easy prey for their only enemy - the great white shark. No more than 60 percent survive.

An adult seal can swim at fifteen knots for short spurts and cruise at ten knots for hours at a time, being able to stay submerged for up to 20 minutes.

Harbor seals return to Maine in April to spend spring, summer and fall. After shedding their fur in July, they begin to consume large amounts of fish, fattening up for their long trip south. They leave Maine after the harbors and bays have frozen, in route to their wintering grounds in Long Island Sound and southern points. We are thankful for that; it provided a wonderful day for Peter, Beth and myself.

[I would like to thank Rob at the Mystic Marine Life Aquarium and the James Blackstone Memorial Library, Branford, for their assistance with my research, with special thanks to Beth Dock and Peter Borgemeister.]