I have always enjoyed feeding sea gulls. When I’m surf fishing at the beach, and have a few shrimp left over, I toss them high and watch in fascination as gulls swoop in to intercept my deliveries in midair.
I was in Urbanna last week and had some extra shrimp that I didn’t want to put in the trash can and took it down to the dock, wondering if I tossed a few in the water if the gulls would come a’calling. I did and they did. They seemingly appeared out of nowhere and within seconds, there were dozens of shrieking gulls picking the shrimp from the water. It also helped that I had the remains of some catfish I had cleaned. They ate every morsel.
I often worry about gulls – what they eat and how they survive when there are no fish scraps to be had. They fly miles and miles every day, often with no food at all. It must be a tough life.
Mr. Wikipedia says that there are numbers of different species called seagulls, though the Herring Gull is probably most common. Many dislike seagulls because they are notorious thieves and they have been known to send their droppings on both beach blankets and beach goers.
But I like sea gulls. They are graceful birds, quite intelligent and if there is a shrimp around, they’ll find it.