Seagulls-never just one around

Have you ever noticed that there are never just one or two seagulls around? There are others, hiding and lurking-hidden until the first food scrap appears.

Growing up at the beach, I had lots of opportunities to observe seagulls and their interaction with humans. I would watch the tourists start out throwing bread to 2 or 3 birds. Then, watch the tourists start to freak out when suddenly hundreds of seagulls would show up-flying in circles, diving and screaming. About the time it started to resemble a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", the tourists would dive back into their cars and feel safe again. Meanwhile, their car was getting splattered with bird droppings-which is another reason I have never liked large groups of seagulls. You could always tell when the tourist got splatterd with droppings-shrieks, cussing and screaming would follow. For some reason, very few of them would run into the ocean to wash it off. Even if you didn't get totally wet, you could at least rinse the bulk of the ick off of you. I never understood that. If a bird splatters me, I'm headed to the nearest water source-hot, cold, salt or fresh, I don't care- that bird stuff is coming off ASAP!!!

This post was inspired by my working first shift this morning and is rather meandering because I worked my usual second shift last night, so I am tired and goofy after 4 hours sleep. I work first shift once in a blue moon.

First shift has all the people checking out that I checked in last night. I really don't like seeing them twice-especially the difficult ones. They are the ones who are schlepping a mile to get ice. LOL! I work at a small, clean, ecomony priced motel and you should realize that by the logo sign. This is not a five star resort and we don't claim to be.

Anyhow........
It's chilly, kind of overcast and windy here today, so some seagulls have come inland. There are a couple of seagulls lurking out by the duck pond. A woman took some bread out to feed the ducks and suddenly was surrounded by seagulls. She fled to the safety of her car and headed for I-95, probably vowing to never feed birds again unless it's from a feeder in her yard. Songbirds have much better manners.














































































This little walk down memory lane has been inspired by my working first shift. I work first shift maybe once a year. That means that I get to check out the same people I checked in last night. Last night was busy, too, thanks to the Rolex 24 Hour Race at Daytona ending around 4pm or so. People know thatif they can just get across that Fla.-Ga. border, the price of everything goes down-especially the price of motel rooms.

We offer a continental breakfast at the little economy chain motel where I work. Just enough to get you on the road and, if you are like me, and don't have a big appetite, tide you over until afternoon.

It's kind of overcast, cool and windy today, so we have a couple of seagulls hanging out by the duck pond. A lady took a couple pieces of bread to give to the ducks and within seconds, was surrounded by a bunch of raucous seagulls.

It reminded me of when I was a kid and used to watch the tourists start to feed a few seagulls on the beach and suddenly would be surrounded by every gull within 3 miles-all shrieking and diving through the air trying to get that one scrap of bread. Most of them, when finding themselves right in the middle of a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds", would retreat quickly to the safety of their car and sit there while the car got splattered by seagull droppings. You could always tell when a person would get bombed by droppings, there would be a loud, horrifying scream, sometimes cussing and a mad dash for their vehicle. I never understood this. Why not head for the water to wash it off as quickly as possible? I have been hit a few times by bird droppings and the first thing I want is water to wash it off. I don't care if it's fresh, salt, ocean, lake, pond, stream or tap water-I want water ASAP.