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At the Beach: Sea Gulls
By Dorothy MacFarlane
Posted Friday, February 23, 2007
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My mom and dad used to like to sit at the waterfront in Plymouth every afternoon, watching the fishing boats go in and out. I still sit there every once in a while myself. I sat there during a cold windy day this winter, and watched the gulls. They are beautiful birds, capable of incredible flying. They soar and dive, lift, and generally move in any direction they please. When the wind is strong, gulls will flex their wings just so, and hover over one spot. Relatively speaking, they are flying, but not going anywhere. I suppose you could say they were geosynchronous.
I seldom offer the gulls any food. As a naturalist, I know that feeding wild populations of birds human food is not a good idea. Also, gulls have a way of rewarding those who feed them with a deposit of their own. This day, I had a little sandwich left over, and since it was so cold, and the birds looked hungry, I broke up the sandwich and tossed it out the window anyway. The wind took the pieces and blew them over the roof of my car. Each piece was snatched out of the air by waiting birds, and almost nothing made it to the ground. I listened as they screamed at each other, and fought for space. My dad never heeded the warning to not feed the birds. He loved to watch them fight and squabble over the food. Tossing my sandwich to the gulls brings me closer to my folks.
It’s not so easy to sit at the waterfront anymore. Plymouth has instituted paid parking for most of the year, and kicked out the casual observer in favor of the boat owner. So now, except for winter, that beautiful view is observed mainly by parked trucks. Not even a few spaces were reserved for the folks like my mom and dad, who all had their routine; a few minutes at the waterfront to get in touch with nature, meditate on it all, and move on. There is still Nelson’s Beach, you can’t swim there, but you can still sit there and watch the water for a little while. Scientists lament on the fact that we are losing touch with nature, but sometimes, it is just not that easy.
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