Today, for the first time in my life I met three wild seagulls up close, very close, perhaps only 6 feet separated us. These seagulls were very large, much bigger than I ever would have expected. I had stopped the car to watch them wrestle with a take-out bag from McDonald's. All that was left were french fries. Oh how they hungered for those fries! They took turns shaking the bag with their beaks, sharp yanking as well, till the fries spilled out to be immediately gobbled. Several minutes elapsed during this episode, time for me to marvel how they seemed to respond to my attempt at loving bird talk. They seemed calmed somehow. They were thrilling company in their white finery so proud and strong; They must be smart too; they'd flown inland from San Pedro at least eight miles to a large parking lot in South Los Angeles. Every day, in Winter especially, fog rolls in from the ocean, fog formed by cold ocean air meeting air going south from the desert on the other side of the San Gabriel mountains. I'm so happy guessing nobody hunts them, or chases them, or tries to trap them, or poison them. The only violence in south LA is gang related, and gangs mostly kill each other not birds they may not almost literally ever actually see, let alone watch and thank God for.
Barry
7 comments:
I live 130 miles up the Hudson River from anything resembling a beach, but we have seagulls and terns galore. They hang out in large flocks in shopping center parking lots, especially near fast food joints. I like to park in the middle of them and warch them. Like you, I've noticed they seem to love french fries. Never turn a child loose with a french fry in hand - the kid will be mobbed!
~~Silk
It is kind of fun to watch those little guys go about their business. They do become focused, and french fries must have been a treat!
Jimmy
Thanks Jimmy, thanks Silk, and
thanks Silk and thanks Jimmy.
Being gotten feels to me so damn
important. Silk, I lived in Lincoln
Towers at 68th st., overlooking the
Hudson in NYC, and in
more than ten years never saw a
seagull. Perhaps I didn't look!
Perhaps they didn't follow the river
upstream. Jimmy, they were huge!
Evolving maybe, ha ha ha.
Barry
Funny, the different memories people can have of the same animal. For me, the sight of seagulls always reminds me of my highschool days. The gulls are hungry critters, and every day at lunchtime, they would wait for some unsuspecting student to drop a piece of sandwich, etc .... then they would circle by the dozens, the braver ones swooping down to grab it up. We would see them overhead, and automatically put our folders over our heads. Woe to those who didn't cover up when the gulls circled ! Tina http://journals.aol.com/onemoretina/Ridealongwithme
Hi Tina! Thanks for your Comment. I'd
seen the same species (?) of seagull at
a busy intersection swoop down to gobble
something or other. They were obviously
practiced at avoiding traffic. (In LA I've
seen crows/and or Ravens do the same thing.)
What was quite different in the parking lot
was my being allowed to come so close.
Maybe I took a thorough shower that day,
ha ha ha.
Barry
We were on Holiday in Scotland and sitting in the car having Fish and Chips (french Fries) and these seagulls landed on the bonnet and were trying to get at the chips through the windscreen - they were Huge and there beaks looked sharp and ominous......We did throw some chips out of the window for them, which they fought over and gobbled up......Such Regal looking birds....and a moment to savour.....Ally
"Fish and chips," and "bonnet," Ally, for the
American 'French fries with fish,' and
'Hood.' The first two remind me strongly
of my early childhood in Australia where
the same English terms were spoken. Well,
in for a penny in for a pound, many times
during my total accumulated sea time of
13 months as crew on American merchant ships,
between HS and college, and during a summer
in college, I remember seeing seagulls appearing
from nowhere in the middle of the Pacific when
garbage was thrown overboard (now illegal?).
I suppose they can sleep while floating?!
Wish I could do that. Gentle rocking of the sea might
induce really deep, healing sleep. Ha ha ha ha ha
Barry
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