Subject: [Tweeters] Weird seagull behavior
Date: Aug 19 14:13:46 2007
From: Ted C. - cuddeford at zhonka.net


Dayna,

I would witness this same behavior when I use to live in downtown Olympia.
There are several warehouses that the sea gull would roost and raise their
young. I could see these from my apartment. Every so often the gulls would
go nuts just as you described. Most of the time it was Bald Eagles going
after the young gulls that couldn't fly yet. A few times it was some other
bird of prey looking for an easy dinner. It was sometimes hard to figure out
what bird of prey was the one in the middle of the gulls since there were so
many gulls flying in that tornado fashion.

My wife witness one of these events. The Bald Eagle circled around and got
all of the gulls worked up. But one of gulls that was in the bay down by
East bay drive didn't take off with the rest of them. Needless to say the
Eagle swooped down to get the gull. The gull try to get airborne but was a
little late. The Eagle picked off the gull as it was trying to take off just
like it was a fish. It flew up the bay with the struggling gull. My wife was
quite surprised with the whole event. I guess it just goes to show if your
not up in the air you make an east target.

Ted
Lacey, WA
N47 03.442 W122 49.108
Thank GOD for Thomas Edison. Without him we would all be watching TV by
candle light.


----- Original Message -----
From: <dlwicki at comcast.net>
To: <tweeters at u.washington.edu>
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2007 4:02 PM
Subject: [Tweeters] Weird seagull behavior


> While staying at Depoe Bay, Oregon this past week, I witnessed a bazaar
> spectacle over Seagull Rock. Right in town, just before the bridge is a
> big rock where zillions of gulls roost. Usually they are busy flying back
> and forth, calling and making the usual seagull racket, but this time, on
> just one night out of 6, right at dusk they began flying in a circle over
> the rock, which started with just a few birds and eventually included
> hundreds in a tornado type fashion! They circled and screeched until
> after dark, sounding like a scene from "The Birds". I have been
> vacationing in this same spot for several years and have never seen
> anything like this. Who knows what they were doing?
>
> Dayna yalowicki
> Bothell, Wa
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