Cheerful Winter Sights

This somehow always seems to surprise and delight me. Seals in New York-New Jersey harbor in the coldest part of the winter.

The numbers have grown from one or two to maybe 200. So encouraging to see them. Recovery is possible, the water's a little cleaner maybe, fish a little more abundant maybe.

So awesome to imagine the variety and abundance of life that thrived in the area hundreds of years ago.  And what's not cheerful about a big fat seal lounging on a spit of sand within sight of the silver-black skyline of a global metropolis?

This kind of thing is celebrated often and nicely by a great blog: Nature on the Edge of the City by Joe Reynolds.  Check it out.