Sometimes its the everyday things you take for granted that can bring you the greatest delight. Playing hide and seek with the Seagulls and watching them feed during one of my visits to the pond this week was a perfect reminder of that.

I've made it a goal to find a better spot to photograph the local Kingfishers from. After finding a suitable place next to ponds inlet stream I setup my temporary blind to wait for them to begin their daily hunting excursions. Unfortunately they must have spotted my setup since they took great pains to avoid the perch I was watching.

While I have yet to have any luck getting the shot I want I have seen plenty of other wildlife to keep it interesting including regular visits from the local seagulls.

Like most people who live anywhere near water I see sea gulls on a daily basis. I have gotten so used to seeing them getting free handouts I sometimes forget what a beautiful bird they are when observed in a more natural setting. They also seem surprisinly intelligent as far as birds go.

The first Seagull to appear last Saturday did so quickly and quietly. I hadn't noticed that floating only twenty feet or so away from me in the shallow area next to the flow of the inlet stream was a dead trout. The Seagull saw it almost immediately from half way across the pond and made a bee line right for it.


The fish looked to be about ten inches long and I certainly didn't think the gull would be able to swallow it whole. I was partially right.


He got the whole thing down into his throat but only for a few seconds. It came back out faster than it went in.


It didn't discourage him to much though. He took off , did two low level laps around the pond and landed again right next to the floating fish. This time he was only about fifteen feet in front of me and ready to try it again.


While maneuvering the fish around to get it into a swallow-able position he suddenly noticed my quick and dirty blind. He dropped the fish right where it was and jumped from the water taking flight directly away from my position. Between his apparent frustration with the size of the fish and his uneasiness with my presence he didn't even bother to circle the pond as the gulls normally do when they depart. He just aimed for the lowest point in the tree line and left.

Thirty minutes or so later, what I assume was the same gull showed up again. After that length of time I would have expected he might have forgotten where he had noticed me at or possibly even where the fish was.


He hadn't though. He came back in from directly over my spot and began to circle into the pond. His first time around was just above the top of the tree line then the next time around a little bit lower. The procedure usually includes about three laps before they land. This time he made about ten partial trips around making sure to keep his distance from my location. When he did finally land it was out in the center of the pond.

He settled into the water directly behind the dead Tamarack tree that sat at the waters edge just of to my right. He stayed there for well over half an hour and we played the waiting game. Him keeping one eye on me through the branches and one on the Raven's that flew back and forth above him while I watched him through my camera.


He stayed there and only ventured back toward the fish once and then only after a Mallard drake made his way by me without noticing me. He quickly dashed in and made a grab at the belly up trout but missed and bolted away.


Unfortunately a second gull had noticed the fish while flying over the pond. It, like the first, dropped directly down towards it. Unlike the first however, he spotted me almost right off the bat. He swam off to the middle of the pond chattering at me while looking back over his shoulder. He made his way to almost the same spot that the first gull had just taken off from and I had to decide whether to leave and let them eat or settle in for round two of the waiting game.

I decided that since my new spot had already disturbed the ponds routine far more than I should have let it, it was time to leave. Before I could make it away from the pond the gulls were both back and circling. Since I have observed gulls eating several times I know that they are not ones to share a lunch if they don't have to. I hope the first one is the one who got to eat.

It was one of the funnest sessions at the Fish Pond in recent memory and, for a little while anyway, I will be sure to make note of even the most common of animals in the world around me.

Get outside! Just go sit in your yard if that's all you can do. Enjoy the chance to slow down for a few minutes and watch the little ones around you. They are a big part of what makes our world so wonderful!

Kevin