Seagulls eating Pigeons
So, I saw something apparently rare the other day. A predatory Sea Gull.
I snapped a few pictures with my DS, and...well, they were crappy pictures. Then, I spoke to a woman who gave me the look of "You're full of crap, I study seagulls and they are NOT predatory!"
So, I began carrying my camera in my backpack. And for those of you who know me, I always have my backpack with me.
Now, every day, I walk by the same plot of land, where there are pigeons. Lots of pigeons.
There's also a seagull here. And today it was guarding this pile of seed someone threw down for the pigeons. Now, I've not known a seagull to eat seed, but, who knows. It was defending it like crazy. But, something in the back of my head said "Stick around, shit's about to get real..."
So I did.
Then, all of a sudden, this happened:
The seagull picked the pigeon up from where it had been guarding the seed, and carried it over to the bus driveway in front of the Trans Bay terminal.
You can clearly see it flapping it's wings, and it's foot on the ground. This was a young, rather small pigeon. The seagull was pretty big for it's kind. I'm not 100% on what KIND of seagull it is, but, there it is.
Unfortunately, a bus pulled in front of me so I couldn't get a good picture of what was going on, but then it left!
It's starting to pluck it. You can see the feathers all around it.
At this point the pigeon had stopped kicking.
Okay, this picture's kinda funny. The seagull's all like "I'mma eatchyoo too!"
And finally...GUTS!
At this point, I had to wander my fuzzy butt to work, but I've managed to locate the lady who said gulls don't do this, and I'm gonna find out what kind of gull it is! (I've been told it's a Great Black Backed Gull, however, they're only on the East Coast. This is San Francisco!)
I snapped a few pictures with my DS, and...well, they were crappy pictures. Then, I spoke to a woman who gave me the look of "You're full of crap, I study seagulls and they are NOT predatory!"
So, I began carrying my camera in my backpack. And for those of you who know me, I always have my backpack with me.
Now, every day, I walk by the same plot of land, where there are pigeons. Lots of pigeons.
There's also a seagull here. And today it was guarding this pile of seed someone threw down for the pigeons. Now, I've not known a seagull to eat seed, but, who knows. It was defending it like crazy. But, something in the back of my head said "Stick around, shit's about to get real..."
So I did.
Then, all of a sudden, this happened:
The seagull picked the pigeon up from where it had been guarding the seed, and carried it over to the bus driveway in front of the Trans Bay terminal.
You can clearly see it flapping it's wings, and it's foot on the ground. This was a young, rather small pigeon. The seagull was pretty big for it's kind. I'm not 100% on what KIND of seagull it is, but, there it is.
Unfortunately, a bus pulled in front of me so I couldn't get a good picture of what was going on, but then it left!
It's starting to pluck it. You can see the feathers all around it.
At this point the pigeon had stopped kicking.
Okay, this picture's kinda funny. The seagull's all like "I'mma eatchyoo too!"
And finally...GUTS!
At this point, I had to wander my fuzzy butt to work, but I've managed to locate the lady who said gulls don't do this, and I'm gonna find out what kind of gull it is! (I've been told it's a Great Black Backed Gull, however, they're only on the East Coast. This is San Francisco!)