Party crashers

Earlier this afternoon, my next door neighbor threw several slices of bread out in her back yard. Something to feed the little birds who were hovering in the trees out back. As soon as she went into the house, they flew down to feast. Seeds are fine as a daily meal, but bread is a real treat. There was such squabbling going on over the whole slices that they didn’t pay any attention to what was going on overhead.

Every day, there are seagulls circling high overhead. I’d never thought much about their purpose for being up there before. It’s just a seagull sort of thing to do, gliding around on the air currents. But, apparently, they are sentries, in search of food.

Within moments, they swooped down and crashed the party, sending the little birds scattering in all directions. And, within a couple more moments, a flock of a dozen more seagulls arrived on the scene. The little birds fluttered around up in the trees, complaining loudly while the seagulls ate their treat. The gulls fought over each slice of bread, one running around the yard with a slice hanging out of its beak while the rest chased after. One of them would grab a corner of the slice of bread and run off with it and a new chase began. And that’s how they managed to eat most of the bread—by stealing a hunk out of another gull’s beak.

After the last crumb was gone, the flock took flight and circled a few times to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. Then they were gone. The little birds flew back down to see if there were any crumbs left over, but there was nothing. Soon, they gave up and flew away, too.

Well, I can’t fault the seagulls for wanting a meal and maybe pickings are a little slim along the beach this time of year—I don’t really know. They are big and messy and noisy and not exactly what we would choose to have as back yard guests. Kind of like pigeons in the city, I suppose. And yet, they are pretty and I like them. This was the first time I’ve seen gulls arrive in my neighbor’s back yard, where she often throws bread out for the birds. They’ll probably keep an eye on it from now on.