Spring Feast (click to enlarge, and then again to see all the details)
Here on Gabriola Island people are still talking about what a great herring season we had last month – those boisterous sea lions (featured in my previous post) made quite an impression, as did the eagles, who came in massive numbers to take in the bounty. It was a daily show of profusion and feasting.
But just as interesting, to me, were the seagulls – those much-maligned birds with their unforgettable calls and complex social interactions.
The photo above features a small subset of the hundreds of Glaucous-winged gulls I saw one afternoon at Drumbeg Park, bulking up on nutrient-rich herring that were driven against the shore by seals, sea lions and ducks.
The birds with bright white body feathers, grey wings and orange bills are adults, while the scruffy looking ones with black bills are juveniles. If you click on the image to enlarge it, you can see the diversity of behaviors and interactions and almost imagine the conversations going on among these very active, social birds. (You can click a second time to further enlarge the image and catch all the details.)
It was a joy to see so many gulls at Drumbeg, as it took me back to the days when seagull populations were strong here in the Strait of Georgia. I grew up close to a beach, and we spent all our summers aboard a boat, so gulls, with their mewing, whistling, rolling cries, were always present in my world. It was easy to take gulls for granted or even – as many people did – to denigrate them.
Our seagull population is now only half what it was in the 1980s (more info), so unfortunately, I’m hearing those wonderful sounds much less often nowadays. Like so many of our fellow species, seagulls are in trouble. It’s long past time we gave these fascinating birds the respect and appreciation they deserve.
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Eye on Environment 
Very nice website Laurie! I just signed up, don’t know if I will ever get a site together, maybe one day.
Thanks for the kudos! Happy to have you as a subscriber. Don’t fret about a site – you post so many great images and such wonderful commentary on your Flickr page that I feel like you already have a site!
we saw some beautiful red beaked seagulls in California.
Lovely! Sounds like they may have been Heermann’s gulls. If so, they range as far north as southern BC, so who knows, we might get lucky and see some here!
Hi Laurie,
I wanted to share this related video with you, just in case you havenât already seen it.
https://vimeo.com/121960894?fb_action_ids=10153160722717497 &fb_action_types=og.shares
Best wishes,
Bob
Thank you so much for sending this, Bob – it is absolutely exquisite. I hope everyone who looks at these comments will watch this video. What a wonderful testament to the importance of herring in our ecosystem – and what marvelous sounds and images. Thanks for taking the time to write, and I hope you are well.