On one occasion we beached on a sandy shore, only to be greeted by a most pathetic looking seagull, moaning and staggering as if it were on its last legs. It started pecking at our kayak and bow line, as if it were searching for food. It looked so desperate that we looked for some food to give it and came up with some chocolate chip cookies. We hand fed it some small pieces, and then gave it a whole one (expecting it would peck at it into smaller ones). We watched as the whole thing went down its gullet! We were certain it either was too injured or too weakened to fly, and were debating whether our limited rescue skills included seagulls. At this point, a dog came running up the beach..the gull turned to looked at, gave a couple of very normal and healthy squawks and flew off, looking perfectly fine. We were most impressed with its fine acting skills! On another occasion we were walking the docks of Ganges (small town on Saltspring Island, British Columbia) late at night. There was a sea plane tied up to one. We watched as a Blue Heron came walking down the dock, quickly hopped onto the pontoon and perched at the edge, peering down. It was completely out of the water. My wife and I started joking about the wilds of nature including pontoons, of course, when we noticed the Heron, in quick succession, catch and eat (no release program here) 4 or 5 fish. Then off it went. Very effective fishing! The Heron obviously incorporated this addition into its environment to its own advantage (the fish might have a diffeent version). We weren't sure whether the pontoon gave the Heron access to deeper water, or by keeping the Heron completely out of the water, camouflaged it from the fish. >At 09:10 PM 1/30/98 -0500, Larry Bliven wrote: > >> >>hopefully nature postings will be regular features. >> >>bye bye bliven >>still searching for that someone whose had a bird on deck. > > >Numerous pre-dawn mornings I have seen a large Great Blue Heron standing on >the deck of one of our sea kayaks. > snip >Steve Scherrer >www.aldercreek.com >*************************************************************************** >PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List >Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net >Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net >*************************************************************************** > > Sam and Ann Isaacs Coast to Coast Canadian Products phone/fax: 604-271-3228 e-mail: saisaacs_at_netcom.ca *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net ***************************************************************************Received on Sat Jan 31 1998 - 07:35:45 PST
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