A ring-billed gull (Larus delawarensis) fishes successfully in the stiff breeze at Ashbridge’s yesterday. © BCP 2010
It felt like gale-force winds as I set out for my walk yesterday at Ashbridge’s Bay. The waves were crashing into the headland of the Coatsworth Cut, and I could see whitecaps farther out on the lake. With time short, I had planned to circle the “peanut” quickly and get on with my day. But I only got as far as the first boardwalk before the squawks of the reeling ring-billed gulls (Larus delawarensis) caught my attention.
The gulls were using the high winds to help them fish, using the lift of the wind to hover just over the rocks at the water’s edge. There, presumably, the churning water as it crashed against the shore made the pickings easier for the gulls. They certainly stayed at it long enough. Normally when I watch them, they dive and swoop about the bay, moving restlessly from one fishing spot to the next.
But yesterday, the gulls stayed put, fishing over and over again where the waves were crashing.
No bird brains, they.
A young ring-billed gull lines up his next meal at Ashbridge’s Bay yesterday . © BCP 2010
© BCP 2010
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