Pal covered it.
Long time ago found my self in an Indian village way north and far from any source of info on game laws, limits, etc. -- and an extreme minus tide with never gathered huge scallops covering the exposed rocks.
Like the proverbial kid in a candy shop! Maybe similar and many years ago, after a particularly brutal winter nor'easter hit here, I took Mrs. KG to the beach to have a look see at what we might find beachcombing at dead low. What we came across in the boulder fields in the shallows and above the beach proper --and as high as the dunes--just a vertiable carpet with all manner of live and kicking seafood that the storm tide had pushed onto the beachhead, then stranded lots of. I first knew something was up as we headed down the path toward the beach (south end of Plum Island) was when we saw hundreds of squawking and shrieking gulls intermittently taking off, circling and headed back down. Seemed like lots of them had something in their beaks, too..
Turns out they were grabbing medium sized live hardshell clams and scallops, and unable to poke them open, were picking them up, flying up into the sky then dropping them on the rocks below, cracking the shells and making it so they could feed on the contents. We gathered more than we could carry. Littlenecks, topnecks, cherrystones, surf clams, great piles of mussels, sea scallops, a few lobsters...Man, that was a fine outing and even better eating. Thanks, Ma Nature!
P.S. Good thing the local fish cops weren't present, as that is, well, how shall we say...frowned upon and slightly not legal.
Thanks for the great story, Mr. Okanagan.
