Hi all,

While waiting at a light on Boren Avenue in the Yesler Terrace section of Seattle this afternoon (12/11/10), I watched an immature Glaucous-winged Gull flying down the road towards the intersection. Suddenly it just dropped straight down onto the road. It apparently hit the electric bus wires. I didn't see any actual contact with the wires, and it seems odd that the gull would have hit the wires -- it didn't look like it had any intention of landing on them or anything else; it was in full flight mode -- so maybe the electricity arced when the gull got close. Maybe someone in Tweeterdom with a better understanding of such things can confirm that this would be possible. It was raining at the time, FWIW.

Anyway, electrocution seems to be the most reasonable explanation of what happened, rather than some other cause of sudden death. The gull did not move at all while falling -- other than the falling motion, obviously -- or after hitting the ground, so it presumably died instantly, though there wasn't much time to judge whether it was alive or dead. The traffic light had just changed from red to green when this happened, and the gull dropped down in the left lane right in front of the first car going through the intersection, which promptly ran over it with its driver side wheels...and the second car did the same, so if it wasn't dead when it hit the ground, it was soon after. Neither driver ran over it intentionally. They just didn't have enough time to react.

John Puschock
Wedgwood, Seattle
g_g_allin at hotmail.com
http://www.zbirdtours.com