Today at Bob Heirman park I watched a hilarious comedy routine. There were
several gulls around and one was nearby wading in the shallows. It stopped,
cocked its head and peered into the water. Then it poked at a fish. The
fish, a salmon, flapped its tail and slapped the gull upside the head,
knocking it off its feet. There were a handful of other gulls nearby who
immediately starting calling in what sounded a lot like laughter. I laughed
out loud myself. The gull, waddled back into the fray, rising up and
shaking its head then cautiously circling around the underwater fish. It
stopped on the other side where it had been, and peered cautiously into the
water, turning its head this way and that. Then it made a fast, experimental
poke with its bill and quickly reared back. Nothing happened. It poked
again. Nothing. Apparently satisfied it lowered its head to closely examine
the apparently now dead fish and it flapped its tail, hitting the gull on
the butt and knocking it head first into the water! I could not stop
laughing, and neither could the group of several gulls who had come in to
watch the comedy. The gull, ducking its head, and looking for all the world
like it was embarrassed, floated downstream.

And to add to the cricket thread, there were 2 crickets calling in the grass
at Bob Heirman today, the latest I have ever heard them.

Rob Sandelin
Naturalist, Writer, Teacher
Snohomish County