Beg to differ with you here my friend
Looks like birds sitting in the water to stay warm or resting on the water where they lost sight of the bait, its the last know spot they saw bait . We follow this pattern in the boat bass and tuna fishing as we start a search pattern near the sitting birds usually in the direction the current is running. Birds fly high in the sky over herring and other schools of bait so they can keep an eye on them as they move around allot sometimes at fast speeds. The higher the birds the deeper the bait, lower flying birds usually indicate fish are pushing bait to surface and it may be an easy meal. This holds true for most seabirds except for gulls which hang on the beach. All sea birds always face into the wind as it don't ruffle their feathers. Most importantly waiting for the smell of a baits scent given off when they are being attacked. On the ocean bunker being attacked give off the smell of rotten eggs