We stopped in the CT River last weekend. Our first stop was North Cove in Old Saybrook, where we heard that a yellow streamer on a pickup stick indicates the mooring's owner is not returning that night and the mooring is available for free. It's very shallow, about 4.5 feet, and not suitable for larger boats. The largest mooring we saw was labeled #400 and the largest free one (at the time) was #250, so we moved on to Old Lyme CT, where we took a mooring at the Old Lyme Marina for $32 including sales tax and free launch service (just in time before a T-storm arrived).

While sitting at this mooring we noted that the river has a lot of wildlife and seems very clean. (I canoed and camped on it when I was a kid and it was loaded with industrial effluent then, so this was nice to see.) A seagull had caught a nice sized fish and was eating it on the river bank, which attracted the attention of approximately 10 or 12 vultures. a few approached the gulls but (interestingly) did not make any effort to take the fish. In fact the vultures were quite timid, and backed off when a gull walked toward them.

The ones with red heads approached the gulls:

And these guys with black heads watched from nearby, about 25 yards away:

And a video of their friends circling above is linked below.