Blue, grey, white

An afternoon in June ...

Gull. On rock. 50th parallel.

A Skywatch post.

I'm having internet connection problems. It's taken me all night to post this. I'm going to bed.

Life of the party

The bird blind on Mitlenatch Island looks down over a rocky cliff painted white with gull guano. There's a plank bench big enough for 4 people, and a plank (the same one?) removed from the wall, leaving a gap to peer through. The gulls don't seem to notice us, only a few feet away, and go about their important business unperturbed.

One of the gulls on the nearest rock was showing off, repeatedly opening his mouth wide as if to screech, but soundlessly, unless his call was beyond human ears' reach. The others didn't seem too impressed.

Our guide explained that this is courtship behaviour. I Googled it and found no more info, so I'll have to translate the proceedings as best I can.

"Check out my tonsils!"

"Good one, eh?"

"He actually thinks he's funny," says gull 2.

"Hee, hee, hee! Chortle!"

Face palms, gull style. At least the clown is happy. And silent.

Far below us, in the water, seals were swimming, birds were diving. We left the blind and went on down the trail.


(3rd in a series of 9 Mitlenatch Island posts. #1, #2, #3, #4. #5. #6, #7, #8)