It was extremely windy in the San Juan Islands this weekend.?The
Glaucous-winged gulls were putting on an aerial display by heading into
the wind and coming to a stop and then veering off or diving to chase
one another.?

The Pacific Madrone had a bumper crop of berries again this year and
flocks of hundreds of American Robins and Varied Thrushes have gleaned
the berries off of many of the branches.?The gulls however have another
food source in their opportunistic feeding behavior.? With the high
wind many of the gulls would hover just above the branches of the
Madrone and gulp down as many berries as possible before a gust of wind
would blow them away.?Other gulls landed in the branches to quickly eat
as many berries as possible before taking off again.

?Several Bald Eagles made their appearance, also hovering in the wind,
some with their legs down and talons stretched.?The gulls were not too
happy with the Eagles and it appeared that the Eagles were hunting,
looking for an unlucky gull landing to eat Madrone berries.

?Perhaps the gull behavior was in part due to the slightly fermenting
Madrone berries.?I guess I?ll eat a few and see if they affect my
flying ability.

Don McVay
Seattle
dmcvay at cmc.net

?

?