Day 114: Sh-hawks

I'd been wondering why a pair of seagulls seemed so ready to start squawking and making "intruder alert" calls. Twice today on my walk around with the camera I heard them, and only on one occasion did I see an eagle. Even from my desk I have heard the anguished cries of the parent gulls. Not that I feel particularly sympathetic towards them, after the experience of being on the receiving end of their defence tactics when a pair nested on the roof of our apartment building. They're not called shite-hawks for nothing.

As I watched the seagulls return, one of them landed in the usual place on top of the Ladner Carillon, and the other landed in a small cutaway at the apex of the library roof (what used to be the science library, now the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre), a nook where a statue might have once lived. That roused my suspicion, and I trained the long lens on it and sure enough I could see movement against the stonework. I snapped a few shots and confirmed that there were at least two seagull chicks there. For a moment I thought there might be three, but the photos show only two. I'm just glad I could get that photo from a safe distance, as I risked my life (well, kinda) taking the last seagull chick photo :-)

Seagulls nesting on the library