Wordless Wednesday – allow your photo(s) to tell the story.
Linda Schaub
FIFTY FAVORITE PARK PHOTOS
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- Parker noshin’ nuts
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Black Squirrel
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- Parker, my Park cutie!
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- Pekin Duck
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- Mallard Hybrid Duck
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- Midnight munchin’ nuts
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- Mute Swan
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- Goslings
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- Mama Robin
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- Seagulls on ice floe
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Parker chowin’ down
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- Mallard Duck
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- Northern Cardinal
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- Great Blue Heron (“Harry”) fishing for shad
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- Parker: shameless begging
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- Viceroy Butterfly
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- Great Blue Heron
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- American Goldfinch
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- Seagull
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- Robin baby (not fledged yet)
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Robins almost ready to fledge
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- Parker angling for peanuts
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- Robin fledgling
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- Parker making a point that he wants peanuts
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- Parker smells peanuts
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- Parker with a peanut
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Seagull
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- Red-Bellied Woodpecker
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- Pekin Duck
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- Starling
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- Canada Geese family
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- Canada Goose and goslings
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- Red-Winged Blackbird
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- Parker says candy is dandy.
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- Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly
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- American Goldfinch
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- Hunny Bunny
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- Parker looking for peanuts
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- The pier just past sunrise
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- Mute Swan
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- Parker in the snow
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- Parker and a treat
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- Great Blue Heron
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- Me and my shadow (a/k/a Parker)
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- Fox Squirrel
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- Seagull
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- Canada Goose
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- Mallard Ducks
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- Mute Swan
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- Fox Squirrel – Parker
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- Northern Cardinal
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BADGES
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- 02-02-2018
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- 03-13-2018
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- 03-25-2018
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- 03-26-2018
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- Year #6!! 02/2019
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- 04-13-2019
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- 11-21-19
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Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Seagulls are the beggars of the birds.
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Yes – if there is food, they will find it and demand it, even if you don’t want to share.
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Now I see your gull with the injured foot ~ poor guy. It looks so painful. But he seems to be a survivor, which I find inspiring, and you got a great picture of him!
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Yes, see I did these posts back-to-back on Sunday and at the last minute decided to split the post in two … did he remind you of The Captain Barbara? The other picture was fairly clear too, but I didn’t include it since he wasn’t eating or part of the feeding frenzy there. I’m sure it is a fish hook in there. I have a few more posts coming up with seagulls in them. Going to try and stagger them so I don’t inundate everyone with seagulls, like I often do with the squirrels. I did make it down there today thankfully. I walked in the street and on the grass at the Park, but it was only about 18 degrees at the time. We didn’t get the predicted wintry mix last night … next snow is Sunday so I can catch up on my miles.
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He does remind me of The Captain, but a much younger version and he looks like a smaller ring-billed gull while The Captain is a larger herring gull. What is the same, though, is that they both seem to make the best of their situations and carry on in spite of their challenges and pain. That’s a lesson for living I take from their example. But I do wonder if your gull could be captured and have that hook removed and then be returned to the wild? How long has it been there, that you know of? I worry about the wound getting infected, it being a foreign object. Are there any bird rescue groups in your area? Have fun catching up on your miles before the next storm!
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I think this gull was younger based on his spots on his head – was that what you were going by too Barbara? I will tell you that once I was at this same park, maybe five years ago, and saw a seagull perched on the fence, holding one leg up. I saw a piece of fishing line dangling from his foot. I took a photo of it and contacted the DNR when I got home and said I had a photo if they needed to see it. I said I was at Bishop Park a full hour and it never moved and maybe an avian specialist or even a regular vet could catch it and pull it out? Their answer was “it’s just a fishhook and will eventually fall out.” I figured there were vets in the area that volunteer their time – I guess not. I go to Bishop Park about ten times a year and can’t say I saw that gull with the fish hook again, but it was not only bad infection wise, but the line could trap it somewhere while trying to get food.
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Yes, the spots on his head and he just didn’t look as weather-beaten as some of the older one I see. I wish fishers would clean up their tackle after themselves instead of discarding it where it threatens the wildlife. So selfish and thoughtless of them. Probably the same inconsiderate people who are litter bugs along the highways. That’s so sad the DNR wouldn’t respond to your plea for help. I guess we’re spoiled here with quite a few local animal and bird rescues. It’s so heart-breaking what animals suffer because of us.
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Dear Ms “Shenanigans”………………………….I’m glad there are a lot of other people who enjoy feeding the sea gulls……………..and taking their pictures……………………and sharing their handicaps
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The man had a huge bag of bread Ann Marie. And he had two young kids with him and a woman … the woman was standing with the kids a few minutes but didn’t care for the birds swooping and diving, so she sat in the car, but the kids were having fun watching the man (whom I think was their father) feeding them.
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Looks like you’ve charmed the seagulls as well as the squirrels. 🙂
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Ha ha – in my post before, I had this one seagull, posing nicely and I took a lot of photos and he flew away. I walked to another riverfront park and returned to my car. Seagulls everywhere and I was sorry they were all blurry and I couldn’t use the photos. But I like the way they all settled down eventually in a neat queue. 🙂
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I enjoy watching seagulls. They are humorous and interesting birds to watch. Bummer about the photos turning out blurry. That’s always disappointing when it happens.
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Yes, they are and have such personalities. I have more seagull shots to share, maybe spacing them out a little more. The seagulls were almost crashing into one another in their eagerness to get the bread. They were a blur of white and gray – I am sure it’d be really easy to recreate that scene though!
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You get some gorgeous photos
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Thanks AJ – there sure were plenty of these seagulls that day!
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Where there’s food, there are gulls. I do enjoy watching them but don’t like it when they get too demanding. This looks like a nice area to walk along the water.
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Yes they are bad for swooping and dive-bombing you when you walk along the boardwalk. There are gulls at the other boardwalks at BASF Park and Elizabeth Park but the first one has no picnic area and the second has picnic areas that are on the other side, so no worries there. When the shad are running down at the Creek, there are so many of shad at one particular time, that the seagulls sit on the water like a duck and just poke their heads in the water and scoop them up like that. I just Googled to see what seagulls eat (especially since none of the fishermen, walkers and joggers are down there now and due to our brutally cold weather all week, the River is likely frozen over. I was sorry I saw their diet. Ugh.
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Yes, they truly are opportunists when it comes to food. Shad sounds like something that would be healthy for them, but usually I see them clean up fast food remnants that people have dropped on the pavement. I’m sure that that’s just as unhealthy for them as it is for humans.
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As I was reading your comment and the line about the gulls gobbling up fast food, I was thinking the same thing “tasty, but not good for you!” I used to go to a small bakery to buy their homemade bread for years. They had a huge sign on the wall over the case where the donuts were on display. The sign said “didn’t you earn at least one of these donuts today?”
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That was quite the sign on the wall!
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I can hear the shrieking from here!
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Ha ha – I originally planned to combine both posts but it would be pretty long and all seagulls, so I split them up. Oh, the noise when they all arrived. I got back to my car just as he started feeding them.
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When I taught chemistry, all my students thought I had to watch Breaking Bad. I never did. Isn’t feeding the seagulls fun? My grandkids love to toss some bread up when we go to the beach. Great seagull shots!
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I never saw Breaking Bad as I didn’t have cable, but heard so much about it that I finally was curious what it was all about and no wonder your students thought you should watch it. This guy’s bread disappeared too quickly for the seagulls and also his kids who got a kick out of watching them swoop and dive for the bread. Thank you – they all assembled in a neat line on the boardwalk railing and that was odd as they immediately quietened down.
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great title and the flow of each photo was excellent (your artsy set up again) with that middle one have the lmao post center and the ending wings out in two as they were all
lined up
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Thanks Yvette – I’m glad you liked how I set up this post. As I watched through the camera lens, I was fascinated with the whole scene. Those gulls were there in a heartbeat, just a blur of birds. The guy had just opened up the bag of bread as I arrived and gulls soon filled the sky. Once the food was done, they exited the parking lot and headed to the water. I loved how they lined up on the boardwalk railing too, still feisty from the encounter and how much bread they managed to get.
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😊good timing
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They hang around our local Walmart… and our Walmart is not near any water. 🙂
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Ha ha – yes, they hang out at my Meijer grocery store too. They figure “any port in a storm” if a shopper sees them and reaches into their bag of donuts or muffins and shares a few morsels with them.
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More great pictures of the CUTE seagulls….lol That poor seagulls foot is so sad. I hate seeing injured wildlife.
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Thanks Diane – I thought I might have overdone it with the seagulls but I came back from the second park to find seagulls dive-bombing and screeching and surrounding this guy. I had lots more photos of them, but they were all blurry. I felt badly for the seagull too. It looked like it hurt as he held it up and I wondered if he had a fish hook in it as there was something hanging off his injured foot.
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WOW – you got some great shots. And do tell…how did you dodge all the poop too!?
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Thanks Shelley – I was standing back of all the action. I took lots of photos that ended up being a big blur because there were gulls going every which way – it was crazy. I am happy to report both the car and I remained unscathed. 🙂
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Lovely to see all that blue, Linda. We are in the middle of a wonderful snowstorm right now so no blue in sight, but I love love love the snow. It’s only our second one of the winter.
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You’d be surprised just how clear the Detroit River is Pam, especially given all the freighters that go down that waterway during shipping season. I’ve been hearing about that snowstorm and saw some photos on Twitter of different locations – it sure is pretty and still going in some places. We’ve had some minor snow events but are on track to get a Polar blast next weekend and then some heftier snow will be arriving. At least you are working from home, so can enjoy the snow from your home and not be commuting in it!
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You know it, Linda!!
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I imagine there are different variations of seagulls, but your river seagulls (rivergulls?) look very much like our west coast sea gulls. And, they are just as happy to descend on bread scraps.
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I had not looked at what type of gulls they were Janis, but a fellow blogger who lives near the shore said they were Ring-billed gulls. I think that’s the only type we have here and you are right – they see food and will descend in a heartbeat to see if you’re willing to share.
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I will take a closer look at seagulls next time! Thanks for showing me that seagulls are interesting to observe with their funny antics. I once tried feeding them with the kids, but they were too eager and flew around us. It freaked out the kids and they never wanted to try again. Maybe we’ll try again where it’s not a flock of them coming at us.
I like the “follow the leader” photo!
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Yes, that’s a real problem with seagulls. I was there and only one seagull, then walked to another park along the Detroit River and came back to this. And yes, they were kind of out of control with the swooping and diving, so I could see how the kids were freaked out … switch to ducks. They are less hysterical when they see food. 🙂
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Your description of what they do, swooping and diving, is right on. Some can get really close. Millions of years ago, friends and I had a KFC picnic at Santa Monica beach. We left our spot momentarily to run around and when we came back, we were surprised to find nothing but an empty bucket. lol. They are smart. Don’t they also swoop down and eat when you hold food out in your hand?
This is ridiculous, but it may work: hold an umbrella while feeding seagulls. I know that’s a lame idea. lol. Ducks are mellow here too, but wild geese tend to congregate with them. Geese are taller and aggressive. K, must look for a place where only ducks live. Golden Gate Park in SF has a serene duck pond and walking area. We’ll have to get a bag of oats or seeds and head out there when the weather warms up.
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That’s something to look forward to once the weather is warm and Spring-y feeling. I have not fed them in a while. I did it at this Park and it was just oyster crackers and they went crazy and all the fishermen were mad as they swarmed over. I just dumped them in the water. The umbrella may work and keep them from swarming you like in the photos.
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Wouldn’t that be hilarious to see?: Six legs under an umbrella tossing oats for frantic 2 legged feathered friends.
The birds get out of control and too close for comfort.
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It would be a funny shot – I agree Esther. Yes they do get too close and you remember what I told you about the Mute Swan who climbed up out of the water and took off after me. It was scary as we had ice and snow and I had to walk backwards as I wanted to watch it closely as I was afraid it would lunge at me and flap its wings.
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Slipping is serious, especially with ice and snow beneath you. Good thing the swan just gave you a scare and no attacked.
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Yes it is and he took after me in a heartbeat. I was just admiring him and the Missus as they swam in the Creek. It was a bright, sunny Winter day with snow on the banks. He didn’t like me taking pictures and they were far away when I took the shots.
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Camera shy!
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I’m not sure why but If a Gull has an injury it’s usually to it’s feet. I’ve seen many with no foot at all.
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I’m not why either Wayne, but this Gull had something hanging from his foot, like an acquatic plant or something that got caught on his foot. I thought he maybe had a fish hook in his foot which is what I have seen in the past. Once in the past, the hook and a piece of fishing line was hanging from it … poor thing.
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I’d say the vast majority of injures comes from humans! Directly or indirectly!
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I agree with you Wayne – look at all the trash people throw into the water and it gets tangled up in waterfowl’s feet and I saw a story a few weeks ago about all the incidents of people who throw away disposable masks and several ducks got their feet inside the ear loops and cut off their circulation. Crazy – put trash where it belongs.
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Your right Linda! Even If everyone puts all the trash into the garbage many problems can still arise.
That garbage gets taken out to the local dump and dumped. Birds are always close by to pick over the new droppings! Many of these birds get their heads or feet caught up in some sort of accidental trap and their ain’t anybody that’s going to come help them!
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Yes, people are so careless … I see lots of things on Twitter where turtles have gotten their heads inside a pop six-pack “connector” and can’t get loose or a critter’s head is jammed inside an empty yogurt container.
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I saw a bear with it’s head inside a paint can! The colour was white. I’d spot “old whitey” wandering along the shore for months after that!
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I “like” for the image of the white head afterward, but “dislike” that the poor bear could have died from having its head inside the can!
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I agree! The silly bear broke into someones remote cabin,smelled the paint and promptly pulled a Poo mistake!
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He must’ve read the book! Seriously … surely there was no food smells in the paint can to lure him there?
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No,your not thinking like a bear. A bear wakes up and goes about it’s business each day. They know certain smells,water,earth,trees etc. When they come across something they have never smelled before they get curious…….”can I eat it”? Paint does contain chemicals. Some of these smells do attract them.
They usually destroy something taste testing.
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I am thinking that the paint smells terrible though – I thought animals had a better sense of smell than humans – maybe boredom too? One of our female polar bears at the Detroit Zoo was killed by a male the other day. That’s not happened since the late 80s. They were in an enclosure for mating purposes and the male killed her. The Zoo was surprised as this male has fathered a lot of cubs, never been aggressive before and a week or so ago, they just revealed two polar bear cubs fathered by this male born in November.
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Yes,their sense of smell is far better than ours. When they smell something they have never smelled before they get curious? They want to know If they can eat it or not.
That male Polar bear has snapped with being caged. A caged human will go nuts after awhile! All animals personalities are altered by imprisonment!
We shouldn’t have Zoo’s! Too many animals have gone nuts and injured others or themselves. We all have heard about Circus Elephants going berserk!
It’s cruel and unusual punishment inflicted by us on innocent souls!
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Thank goodness for the circus elephants getting a reprieve from cramped conditions just to have someone ride around the ring on them with the circuses banning elephant acts. The article said the zookeepers were horrified as it had never been aggressive before. Yes, they probably get tired of being caged up, humans gawking at them all the time. The polar bear exhibit at this zoo is a natural setting and they had lived together for a year. They are from different zoos brought together for breeding purposes. The bear who died was on loan here from Buffalo.
Here is the story if you want to read it.
https://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/local/oakland-county/2021/02/09/detroit-zoo-polar-bears-killed-breeding-anana-nuka/4460895001/
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