Subject: [Tweeters] nocturnal gulls
Date: Nov 23 07:51:29 2007
From: Dennis Paulson - dennispaulson at comcast.net


Hello, tweeters.

I hope all who wished to had a good interaction with a particular
bird yesterday, and the experience is well integrated into your
persona by now.

Driving home from a Thanksgiving get-together, we started across the
Evergreen Point Bridge at 9:25 pm, heading west. Almost immediately a
gull was flying next to us at eye level, just off the edge of the
bridge. I remarked on it, and a few seconds later there was another
one off the bridge but about 10 feet above it. Both were obviously
gliding along on the deflection currents (updrafts) from the very
light north wind hitting the edge of the bridge and being deflected
upwards. Birds use bridges all the time in that way. The first had
black wingtips and may have been a Herring Gull, the species I most
often see resting on the light standards in the daytime. I had an
even poorer look at the second bird, although it was also an adult.

I have seen gulls flying at night every once in a while (large
numbers once in downtown Vancouver, BC), but not that often. It may
be a regular part of their life, and I wonder if the bridge lights
might even attract fish, or at least make them more visible at the
surface. Lights attract fish in the marine environment, but I don't
know if that's the case in fresh water. Anyway, it's always fun to be
surprised by nature.
-----
Dennis Paulson
1724 NE 98 St.
Seattle, WA 98115
206-528-1382
dennispaulson at comcast.net



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