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poliphiloGulls don't scare me, but living among them I can see what Du Maurier and Hitchcock were driving at.
I put a bowl of uneaten cat food down on the patio and even as I turn to go a couple of large white angular things with an enormous wing-span drop from the sky behind me. They hit the ground and immediately start fighting. One bird has the other bird's wing in its beak and pushes. Much noise. Then the loser gathers up what's left of its self-regard and heavily flaps away. The victor sizes up the situation, looks right, looks left- in case other antagonists might be thinking about trying their luck- them plucks the food from the bowl with quick, efficient stabs...
I feel I know what pterosaurs were like.
They perch on all the roofs round here. Including ours. A youngster- full grown- pesters its parent for food and is cold shouldered. A pair have sex- the male flapping his wings to maintain balance, both their heads jerking backwards and forwards. Whatever they're doing they feel the need to talk about it at the tops of their voices.
Sometimes they sound human. Like babies. Sometimes they bark like dogs. Ailz and I suspect there's mimicry going on.
They get on well with the crows. You'll often see a crow and a gull sharing a chimney stack. I don't suppose the relationship is symbiotic, merely tolerant. If the question of precedence arises the crow defers.
To watch them fly is an education in aeronautics. Mostly, conserving energy, they glide, riding the thermals. They go high, they swoop down low. On the ground they strut- like fascists. They have selfish, cold, unpitying little eyes...
I put a bowl of uneaten cat food down on the patio and even as I turn to go a couple of large white angular things with an enormous wing-span drop from the sky behind me. They hit the ground and immediately start fighting. One bird has the other bird's wing in its beak and pushes. Much noise. Then the loser gathers up what's left of its self-regard and heavily flaps away. The victor sizes up the situation, looks right, looks left- in case other antagonists might be thinking about trying their luck- them plucks the food from the bowl with quick, efficient stabs...
I feel I know what pterosaurs were like.
They perch on all the roofs round here. Including ours. A youngster- full grown- pesters its parent for food and is cold shouldered. A pair have sex- the male flapping his wings to maintain balance, both their heads jerking backwards and forwards. Whatever they're doing they feel the need to talk about it at the tops of their voices.
Sometimes they sound human. Like babies. Sometimes they bark like dogs. Ailz and I suspect there's mimicry going on.
They get on well with the crows. You'll often see a crow and a gull sharing a chimney stack. I don't suppose the relationship is symbiotic, merely tolerant. If the question of precedence arises the crow defers.
To watch them fly is an education in aeronautics. Mostly, conserving energy, they glide, riding the thermals. They go high, they swoop down low. On the ground they strut- like fascists. They have selfish, cold, unpitying little eyes...
no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 08:57 am (UTC)Here the crows are unquestionably boss except when the big raptors turn up.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 12:32 pm (UTC)No big raptors show up here- and the supremacy of the gulls is undisputed.
no subject
Date: 2022-04-18 02:17 pm (UTC)The crows were not happy!
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Date: 2022-04-18 02:49 pm (UTC)