Thursday, September 9, 2010

A Squabble of Seagulls

Early evening on the Promenade really is the golden hour and if you find seagulls endlessly fascinating then there's no better place to study avian behaviour.  I looked up collective nouns on the internet to try and find one which describes a gathering of these birds and what I found was "a quarrel" or "squabble" of seabirds., which seems rather apt, I think.


 There's a rigid "pecking order" (pun intended) amongst the birds.  Find a perch on one of the concrete bollards ...

 

... fiercely defend your perch until forced by a larger and more vociferous bird to vacate it.  Pass the ousting down along the line.


Settle down with a triumphant shriek and begin the whole process again.


Adopt an elegant pose against the setting sun, always keeping a beady eye on passing humans who might provide a tasty snack.


Fly away in alarm at too close approach of humans.


Out over the sea towards the setting sun.  Or, more realistically, to relocate to other places where the pickings are more plentiful.


Leaving the promenade to human enjoyment.



3 comments:

Karen said... [Reply to comment]

Thank you for visiting me so that I could come and find your wonderful blog!

I love bird watching (I generally put out four feeders in the winter), but with the little point-and-shoot the pictures were pretty meh. Maybe with the new camera I can't get interesting photos like you did with these seagulls.

rachel said... [Reply to comment]

But if you sat with some fish and chips to eat, you'd find those birds wouldn't be in the least bit shy! We had a very scary Hitchcockian experience with gulls once while waiting for the ferry to Skye.....

Karen said... [Reply to comment]

I mean *can* get interesting photos. Shees, I can't type early (for me) in the morning. But then again, I can't type very well any time of the day.

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails