Relief Crew 7

Fjorder, a yachtsperson on the sixth boro who came close enough in the ferry contest to get an invite to post the next puzzler, came up with this obscure one: name the harbor/wateryburb below. Some clues: that’s a sea otter in mid-foto and this harbor is frequently dredged, visited by sea lions, and near a national wildlife refuge. Name that harbor–or bay.

 

Sea otters, Enhydra lutris nereis, Fjorder says, make industrious feeding noise cracking open shellfish by banging them together.

New York harbor environs, although not pristine, enjoy a coexistence of humans and non-humans depicted in previous posts.

 

Gulls belong to genus larus. I’m guessing this specimen guiding APL Brazil under the Bayonne might be the rare Larus pilotus newarkus, a variety known to live symbiotically with humans, assisting mariners through shipping lanes and channels. Suppose that APL logo on the bow is another Larus variety?

 

Above a member of the eagle family, possibly Haliaeetus ferus brooklynesis, also somewhat rare.

 

With a legendary nose for sweetness and rarest of all are the otaridae, this one being Otarus dominosis williamsburgus, metallic-skinned cousin of the one that frolicks in the mystery harbor above.

 

By the way, the Larus pilotus maybe sub-species newarkus must be quite high on the avian socio-economic scale, given habitat such as this wired multistory luxury waterfront dolphin-condo. What programming might enthrall this L. pilotus?

Except fjorder’s, photos by WVD.