If I'm going to talk about the seagull, brat boy, petulant sad child of the bird world, I think I want to do it in snatches. Why? The seagulls and I go back a long long way. When I lived in a rooming room house, old shack in the city, where there was more concrete than - life - the seagulls saved me. They would fly over Boston [which has its pockets of grass but not where I lived] and I would watch them in the blue sky. I would sit on my windowsill and listen to them cry. That's when I knew the gull was unique - his cry is that of a wounded child. Are they lost souls of children, or sad adults, who never made it to the "other side" and stayed her as junk angels? A seagull in the sky, when the sunlight is out, is a bird on fire. The light makes him ... bright, like a star.
On the beach, walking across the sand, sitting on the rocks, with a meal, or a snack, seagulls will find you. It's a mob thing, a group mind, yet the individuals in that group act very very different. Some will stand in front of you and scream. Others will walk back and forth, beak bent down to the ground, and harshly complain. Others will hover in the air above you, floating, treading water/air... ever been surrounded by seagulls? It's like being enveloped in a white heaven. Makes me laugh as I throw the bread up in the air, fling the piece of meat far into the crowd, hoping to reach the shy bugger in the back of the crowd. I always look for this misfits.
Standing in a parking lot, once, I threw popcorn up in a strong wind current, fierce wind. The wind whipped the popcorn across the parking lot. The cloud of seagulls hovering over my head whipped along with that popcorn, so fast, blink of an eye. A truck was going, slow down the side of the parking lot. The popcorn blew in front of the trunk, on that passage way (a road between two lots in a BIG lot) and the birds blew right in front of the trunk - HUNDREDS OF BIRDS. The truck stopped. Had to, while that mob got there popcorn. Oh I laughed, but disappeared quick. Wouldn't have blamed that poor driver for being angry! Didn't mean for that to happen!
I saw seagulls, in London, in Kensington Gardens, who wanted to get the bread thrown into the water so bad that they would land on top of the bird who was reaching for the water, pushing said bird INTO the water, to get that bread. Hard call that - I love the seagulls, but I didn't want the other birds to get drowned!
Finding Nemo - an animated film, has the best sequence of seagulls in action I've ever seen. Made me fall to the floor laughing, it was so ACCURATE. They find food, they are THERE! All different, but each individual having his own role in the mission - get the food
On the beach, walking across the sand, sitting on the rocks, with a meal, or a snack, seagulls will find you. It's a mob thing, a group mind, yet the individuals in that group act very very different. Some will stand in front of you and scream. Others will walk back and forth, beak bent down to the ground, and harshly complain. Others will hover in the air above you, floating, treading water/air... ever been surrounded by seagulls? It's like being enveloped in a white heaven. Makes me laugh as I throw the bread up in the air, fling the piece of meat far into the crowd, hoping to reach the shy bugger in the back of the crowd. I always look for this misfits.
Standing in a parking lot, once, I threw popcorn up in a strong wind current, fierce wind. The wind whipped the popcorn across the parking lot. The cloud of seagulls hovering over my head whipped along with that popcorn, so fast, blink of an eye. A truck was going, slow down the side of the parking lot. The popcorn blew in front of the trunk, on that passage way (a road between two lots in a BIG lot) and the birds blew right in front of the trunk - HUNDREDS OF BIRDS. The truck stopped. Had to, while that mob got there popcorn. Oh I laughed, but disappeared quick. Wouldn't have blamed that poor driver for being angry! Didn't mean for that to happen!
I saw seagulls, in London, in Kensington Gardens, who wanted to get the bread thrown into the water so bad that they would land on top of the bird who was reaching for the water, pushing said bird INTO the water, to get that bread. Hard call that - I love the seagulls, but I didn't want the other birds to get drowned!
Finding Nemo - an animated film, has the best sequence of seagulls in action I've ever seen. Made me fall to the floor laughing, it was so ACCURATE. They find food, they are THERE! All different, but each individual having his own role in the mission - get the food
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