June 25 of 2021
It has begun. It seems like every year, a pair of seagulls will establish a nest here to raise their family. This year, I started monitoring this spot earlier and just noticed the adults starting to guard the rock and then eventually I spotted the tiniest movements. So since I have a head start this year, I will be taking photos here once in a while to document this family’s growth.
I count a total of three!
Photos are taken roughly every 2-3 days! These are pushing the limits of my 350mm telephoto lens, so the pictures may not be photographically amazing, but this is an emotional journey.
Egg! Actually an empty eggshell right now
July 5
You can see the bones of a small fish that has been picked clean by these babies! Zoom in!
July 14
Look at that cutie’s face!
July 20
Sharing is caring!
July 25
Soon little buddy!
August 5 – videos!
This little…
… champ is the one who learned to fly first!
I know cuz he’s the one who’s been hopping between these three rocks!
I was worried, because he was stuck on the bottom of the main rock for a few days at first, he tried to hop back up but couldn’t. Then I noticed him on the small rock, so he must’ve flown there or got washed off and swam there. Today, he was missing and my heart sank for a while, but he was actually hiding on the top of the back rock!
August 7
August 9
The family prodigy is nowhere to be seen, he didn’t even make an appearance during dinner time. He probably went off to college and is going to make its parents proud one day. The other two siblings can do little hops in the wind.
Videography is HARD here without a fluid-head tripod
August 11
Only one left! Don’t expect another update… you’ll see why if you watch…
August 14
Look who I found!
Nobody was at the rocks, so I wandered off to take a walk along the beach. The very meek calls of juvenile seagulls caught my attention and I spotted these guys begging their mother for food! They were close enough to their original home and behaved in such a way that makes me very confident that they are the same family that I had been following this year. You can see home-rock in the background!
I have learned that they are still fed by barfed-up fish, but they are also capable of scavenging and flights into the water. I am not sure if they can hunt fish on their own yet.
Unfortunately, that photo is not actually of this particular family. I took that photo last year.
Fun fact: ravens don’t know how to hunt or eat shellfish until they watch some seagulls do it first!