A Flutter of Seagulls
My favourite Sailor friend is back in town so who could it be calling me to go out and do something odd but Mister Paul Watson. Why am I telling you his name? Well, not only is he a good friend but he is someone you will hear a lot more from in the near future. He is a brilliant photographer and has been keeping logs of his sea travels. Expect a photographic styled log book of his interesting travels soon.
So back to me… who else of course?! I had an interesting but rather brief outing today courtesy of Paul and he wanted to photograph pigeons, erm, Seagulls! Yes, buy his photographic art and you will understand what the photo session was about. A flutter of wings indeed!
So armed with two stale loaves of bread and cameras we set off to the beach front in a not so direct manner. This is why I have a GPS in the car. In the Cape you cannot get to the beach unless you have a secret map of its precise location. The coastal suburbs have been laid out to discourage traffic, day trippers, and other such road going annoyances.
The only people on the smaller coastal roads are locals, people headed for the beach, and some folk reported missing in 1983 and never heard from again. I spotted some of them diving aimlessly and slowly, rather lost, trying to locate the beach.
Now what is fascinating about of a Flock of Seagulls? Yes, I know I said a Flutter but there is madness in my method!
The wind has been very strong this last week. So strong in fact that little old ladies last seen UP the coast, were spotted minutes later DOWN the coast with very little effort from their part. So when the wind blows that strong, and you tease seagulls with stale bread, they literally fly a meter away from you staring you in the eye, or the bread rather truth be told.
It is quite fascinating to see a bird in full flight right in front of you without it moving more than a few centimetres. When they move it is to snatch the bread of course. I would advise tossing said bread after a while because the sun is obliterated by fluttering wings and they may accidentally have a bowel movement over you. The last time I was with Paul I experienced such marvels of the seagull bowel. Fortunately the public rest room was meters away and the seagull’s aim was a tad off.
So if Mister Watson will be so kind as to let me use one of his photos soon, I shall add it to this post. Normally I am the one behind the camera but today I was behind the bread!
EDIT: Ah here we go, a few photos. So it is not just about pretty pictures of ugly scavengers…
