While biking along the Port Angeles harbor today before noon, I stopped at the site along the inner harbor where the Common Eider was seen a year ago--where a small stream enters the harbor. On the gravelly mouth of the creek, about 25 Glaucous-winged Gulls, several Heermann's Gulls, several crows, a couple Canada Geese, and 20-25 Rock Pigeons were resting or coming and going to drink at the stream. Nothing at first seemed out of the ordinary.

Then I noticed that a small struggle was going on near the stream mouth: an adult Glaucous-winged Gull was holding a quietly struggling pigeon in its beak, just behind the base of its left wing. Over the next 20 minutes or so, I watched the gull grimly hold onto the pigeon and as it continually tried to stand up, with raised wings, and pull away from the gull...which caused them to turn in a slow, grim circle. I don't know how long this struggle had gone on before I arrived, but during the time I was there the pigeon seemed rather sturdy, rarely stopped struggling for long, and no sign of blood or tissue damage was apparent. Except for a couple of temporarily curious juvenile gulls and a crow or two, none of the other gulls resting nearby, within 20-30 ft, seemed to pay much attention to this grim little drama. When I finally left, no end appeared imminent for the pigeon, nor did the gull seem to lose any interest in grimly maintaining its hold on the pigeon. I could see no apparent evidence of sickness or weakness in the pigeon that may have drawn the gull's interest initially, and wondered if the pigeon hadn't just wandered a bit too incautiousless close to the gull while intent on a drink.

Bruce Moorhead
Port Angeles, WA
bruceb at olypen.com