The Fabulous Herring Gull Tour of 2010

We went puddling along the Park Loop Road in Acadia today. The weather was perfect: all bright blue skies above deep blue waters. Past Otter Cliffs and the causeway across Otter Cove is Hunter’s Head. It was here a few years ago that I introduced you to Ralph. Today he (O.K. truth be told, I have no idea of the gender!) was waiting for us in the very same spot. As we pulled up, a friend of his joined him - his name escapes me now. And the two settled in comfortably for their photo shoot. I love the polka dot effect they have on what looks like their tail feathers, but are actually their wing tips folded neatly behind them - very snazzy. While I was outside, happily snapping pics, Chuck was in the car, wrestling with an old fashioned paper map, trying to ascertain which islands we could see in the distance (most likely the Cranberry’s).

These gulls are so graceful soaring in flight. They are clever as they drop mollusks from the air onto the rocks below, to shatter the shells and dine on the morsels within. They can be raucous and nearly overwhelming when great numbers of them cry out, seeming to argue together all at once. Yet, they can also be placid, patient, companionable creatures, resting on a slab of pink granite, while that blogger lady from Massachusetts takes her fill of photographs.