Hi, Bob!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

BA>  There's a HUGE flock of seagulls that hang around a rest
BA>  area on the shore a couple of miles west of the Mackinac
BA>  Bridge on Michigan's UP.


          Ahh, the bridge between Lake Michigan & Lake Huron (both
large enough to have a similar influence on the weather & attract very
much the same sort of wildlife as the ocean).  In this part of the world
seagulls tend to hang around areas frequented by tourists as well.  Stanley
Park & Granville Island are rife with them.  Since we've been talking
about survival skills, however... when you see them a few miles further
inland they are probably expecting a storm.  In my experience birds often
predict such events where meteorologists can't.  Another example... I was
standing in a parking lot in Burnaby last week when a group of small birds
flew into a bush, chattered among themselves, then flew away again. A few
minutes later it began to snow.  The official "snowfall warning"
from the weather office was issued half an hour later.  In my experience
these birds are generally quiet unless it's about to rain or the rain has
just stopped....  ;-)



BA>  I have a picture of one of them taking a french fry out
BA>  of my hand -


          I believe it!  The seagulls in Stanley Park will land on one's
picnic table in hope of receiving an offering and/or grabbing a few French
fries.  The nineteen-year-old daughter of a friend also lost a hamburger
patty to a seagull on Granville Island as she was in the act of raising the
sandwich to her mouth. The seagull made a quick dive & took it straight
out of her hands.  Birds which are used to being around humans seem to have
little or no fear of them....  :-/




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+