Clunk!

Very early one recent morning at anchor, that was the sound that awakened me.

To a boat owner, this is not a welcome sound.  When you are just waking up, these are the kinds of thoughts that run thru your head:

• Someone has drifted into us (drug their anchor, miss-judged their scope, etc); damage has ensued
• A log is drifting past the hull (does it have rusty spikes in it?); damage has ensued
• We've hit bottom on an outgoing tide; damage has ensued
• ...; damage has ensued

Nothing in that list has a happy outcome.  So as you might guess, I lept out of the bunk and went up on deck, dressed nearly as I was at birth, looking frantically all around.

Nothing.

Then I noticed, on the aft deck, a clam, freshly broken.

Gulls and crows have learned this trick:  at low tide, find a clam that you can lift and fly with.  Take it high enough, and drop it onto something hard - it breaks open and you can feast.  In this case it was a crow, who was very displeased with me for throwing away his breakfast, and he told me so.

I ignored him, and went back to bed, thinking that birds deserve way more credit for intelligence than we give them.

Clunk!