Sea Gulls
and selfishness
(This Saturday Story is from writing I did to record the events and experiences of our last vacation. I’m pulling a few things out and sharing them here. I hope you enjoy them)
Our plan was to go see the Tahquamenon Falls while we were here, but we got to thinking about how far from home we were and how we didn’t want the return trip to be a mad dash so we planned to go see them after dinner. It wouldn’t get dark for a couple of hours and we could squeeze it in. But when we walked over to the truck that was parked in the parking lot right next to the lawn area that overlooked the little sandy beach that was along the shores of Lake Superior… I said, “If you don’t mind, I would rather get our lawn chairs, a couple of books, and take our pint down there and chill.
Monica was good with that, so that is what we did.
The Sea Gulls have clearly adapted to and come to understand some things about humans. When they see you eating, they know that’s what you’re doing, and they anticipate getting in on the action. I saw several signs in various locations telling people “Don’t feed the gulls.” People food probably isn’t good for them. Heck, most of it isn’t good for us. Plus, it encourages them to become dependent on handouts and they don’t go out and get their food the way they were meant to do it. Sounds familiar.
We also found that they get very territorial about it when someone is eating. They don’t like other gulls butting in on their action once they have staked their claim. Monica noticed that they do their squawk in an interesting way when they are standing on the ground. They don’t do it every time, but often they will start with a couple of squawks with their head lowered down between their legs, and they will lift their heads in a swooping motion, extending their beaks as far up as they can, and repeat the squawk another three times. I wondered if they are pulling in more air when they drop their heads like that so that they can squawk louder. That is just my guess.
When we were in Petoskey, we rode our bikes down to Sunset Park one evening. We took a spot at a picnic table overlooking Lake Michigan. A young couple came and sat on a bench about 20 feet in front of us, right on the lakeshore. They were eating pizza. A gull saw and began to make a circuit, walking squares in a large area that encompassed both us and them, but clearly keeping his main focus on the pizza eating couple. Every time another gull entered the territory he had staked out, he would fly toward them, making them leave. Often he would continue chasing the other gull, both of them looking like fighter jets in a dogfight. Once he felt he had made his point, he would return and continue walking the perimeter of his claimed territory.
It is kind of interesting, really. Right beyond the bench where the young couple sat, was a vast lake full of fish. That is the natural feeding ground of the gull, and it is well stocked. But instead of doing what it is meant to do - fly and dive and hunt - it stands around waiting for someone to toss them a morsel of food they were never meant to be eating.
I’ll let you work out the metaphors here for yourself.
