Before I arrived on Great Duck Island, a few people asked me “why on earth would you want to study sea gulls? There are so many of them. They’re like rats.”
I usually answered with a version of “…it is important to study every aspect of an ecological community. Gulls influence many other species…” But such a vague, abstract answer always fell on deaf ears.
People’s distaste for gulls had me thinking: how can ordinary people begin care about gulls; how can people come to feel the same love for this bird that comes naturally to field researchers who witness the majesty, grace, and care these bird exhibit daily?
After much thought, the answer came to me in three parts.
1. Poems.
2. Pictures.
3. Realizing that gulls are more human than you might think.
An Ode to Gulls
Flying Rats
Why do psychologists study people?
There are so many.
They are like rats.
Why do we study gulls?
They are so varied.
They are like people.
Eyes Bigger than Your Stomach
My grandmother has a saying,
“Your eyes were bigger than your stomach.”
It is reserved for the occasion
When you couldn’t finish all
Of a hefting meal where you took too much meatloaf.
I’ve seen herring gull chicks
With eyes bigger than themselves.
Trying to swallow whole fish:
Head, tail, bones, scales,
A hefting meal larger than the weeks-old ball of down.
Migration
Some people live
In the same town their entire life.
Other people can’t stay in the same town
For more than a few years.
Some gulls live
In the same state, from winter to summer.
Frequenting local sand bars,
Exploring the inland scene,
And always flying back to the island to nest each summer.
Other gulls live
In many states, from winter to summer.
Frequent fliers visiting distant shores,
Exploring more tropical lands and seas,
And always flying back to the island to nest each summer.
Parentage
Like a human child,
Young gulls mature in stages.
Baby chicks stay near the nest,
Adolescent chicks wander,
Teenage chicks explore—
Until the island’s berms give way to a boundless world,
As their young wings form their first flights.
But like a human child,
Young gulls always know where to beg for food.
Carl the Gull
Villages band together,
For safety.
Gulls nest together,
For safety.
When a predator nears the colony,
You hear it before you see it.
But you don’t hear the eagle,
You hear the sound of hundreds of birds,
That always have each others’ backs.
Larus Lessons
People can learn from gulls.
Learn to see themselves in others,
Learn to appreciate beauty in the usual,
Learn to stand up for themselves and each other.
More than Gulls
I was lucky to study gulls on Great Duck Island, but that’s not all I did.
Learn more about the island’s history, see how the landscape changed over the summer, and find photos of songbirds, puffins, and wildflowers from the island off the coast.
