There is more March madness than just the events that take place on the hardwood. While both our Michigan teams are gone from this annual college basketball extravaganza, a little March madness has been afoot at my favorite nature nook, Council Point Park.
Well, hopefully I piqued your interest, so I’ll tell “where the birdies is.”
I chose to use this post headline, a fun quote, often attributed to Ogden Nash or e.e. cummings, to describe the past few weeks that have been reminiscent of a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller “The Birds”.
There is nothing more elegant than seeing a seagull gliding through the air on a sunny Summer day. It’s a scene we equate with waves lapping gently against the shore. But about ten days ago, seagulls suddenly appeared en masse at Council Point Park … not five or ten, or even twenty seagulls, but I estimate at least 80 to 100 Ring-billed Seagulls filled the skies and grounds at this venue. It was a bit disconcerting.
Squabble: a term for seagulls who band together shrieking and wailing endlessly.
Imagine the noise from all these seagulls as they were swooping and diving, zooming over the Park, or noisily interacting with their brethren in the baseball field. Now, I am not afraid of seagulls – in fact, I find them great subjects to take photos of. (And they don’t require a treat to hold that pose either.) They tend to stay in place for a long time, that is until you close in on them and breach their personal space, then they fly off in a huff screeching all the way. I’ve taken lots of shots of seagulls with funny expressions, filling my blog with the tag “Seagull Shenanigans” … you may remember those shots through the years.
I took an inordinate amount of photos of the gulls as they hovered overhead, knowing that the phenomenon would soon end. When I walked on Friday, March 24th, the seagulls had suddenly disappeared, every last one of them and the only shrieking and screeching was from the Blue Jay who demanded peanuts once he/she saw the whites of my eyes. However, the respite from the gulls was short-lived, causing me to amend this post I had written on Saturday, when once again the gulls were going crazy at the Park on Sunday morning. Their noise drowned out the pleasant birdsong of the Robins, Chickadees and Red-winged Blackbirds, even blocking out the rat-a-tat-tat of Rex, the Red-bellied Woodpecker drilling holes in his favorite dead tree.
So, did these gulls show up because the tiny feeder fish a/k/a shad were running? I stepped down to the edge of the Ecorse Creek several times and never saw a single shad, dead or alive. In the past the seagulls have sat, like a duck or a goose, on the surface of the water to feast on these feeder fish. But that wasn’t happening and, as I studied their moves, they were not grabbing a fish when they got close to the water, but merely skimming over the surface, then returning to the air. Sunday morning a slew of shad bodies lined the Creek banks, perhaps having drifted there from our strong winds on Saturday. Next month, it will be ten years since I began walking at this venue; the seagull siege is a phenomenon I have never witnessed before. Indeed it is a bizarre mystery. Below are some of the photos I took last week.
They monopolized the parking lot.
On the first day of “Seagullpalooza” as I neared the Park, I sure was glad I parked down the street. For a moment I thought Jonathan Livingston Seagull was presiding over a gull gathering.
And beyond the parking lot, the baseball diamond was full of seagulls – were they resting? I would have needed a panoramic shot to include all the gulls in one take, so I had to take three photos, but this still wasn’t all of them. I sure hoped this was a one-time occurrence as I crossed the parking lot with hurried strides.
In the distance I saw a sky filled with seagulls.
They were swooping and diving over near the twisted tree; if you squint, you’ll see the many gulls that were close to the water …
… but there were still not as many as those that congregated at the Creek’s cement ledge over the storm drain.
I wondered if it was a “Gulls’ Day Out” event – the air was full of gulls, shrieking and screeching like teenyboppers at a boy band concert.
As I watched them, I wondered how they averted a mid-air collision. I came home with a photo card chock full of blurry birds and the few pics used in this post.
Though it would appear they were at the Creek to catch a fish, they never dove below the surface, nor did they emerge with a fish.
The geese and ducks appeared laid-back, seemingly unperturbed by the noisy commotion.
As I prepared to exit the Park I took a shadow selfie of my head and hat …
… which I hoped would remain splat-free until the seagulls moved on. I am happy to report my hat is still unscathed!
A new critter was discovered at the Park last week and you’ll get to meet him/her on Wednesday.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I do enjoy photographing gulls and watching them. Great shots of them diving into the water 🙂
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They were very animated Sandra – that is for sure. I was hoping they were gone for the season, but apparently not. Glad you liked those photos – I thought it was interesting I never saw a single gull emerge with a fish … maybe they ate it underwater or swallowed it whole. Those shad are not that big.
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What a puzzling mystery. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many gulls congregating in one place before, especially when no food seems to be involved. The first picture is stunning! I love how the sunlight is reflecting off those beautiful white feathers and the look on his face. Perfect pose!
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I agree Barbara – they were swooping and diving and going in endless circles over the Creek. Pretty amazing to see it and it makes you wonder how they didn’t smack into each other. I never saw a gull eating a fish- strange. Glad you liked that first photo of the gull – didn’t it look like a dove, especially when you see a dove flying with its wings outstretched like on a Christmas card?
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I actually did think it was a dove at first glance. 🙂
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Yes – I didn’t notice its big feet or “ring-bill” at all …it just seemed like a peaceful bird with outstretched wings.
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What great photos of the seagulls. I have not seen that many gulls since I was in Galveston, Texas in 2019. I am glad your hat came out unscaved. I am sure you enjoyed your walk and we shall see many more great pictures from your next adventure.
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Thank you Peggy! Glad you liked the photos. These gulls swooping through the air and not smacking into one another was incredible to see. There are so many of them, no matter where you look, they are congregating and shrieking their heads off. I wonder what set off your gulls? Usually this time of year, with the landscape so blah, there is not much going on to take pictures of. There will be two more oddities to follow – hope you enjoy them too!
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Oh, my goodness, I haven’t seen that many seagulls together since I was in Florida! That’s amazing they like to visit Michigan. I guess it’s because of the open water? Way to be there to catch the action!!
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I lucked out here Shelley. I thought it was a one-time occurrence, but far from it. I’ve not seen anything like this before … yes, down at the Detroit River there are seagulls, but only a few, lined up on the boardwalk railing or hovering overhead. That might be because there are always people fishing there and maybe they think the fisherman will catch and release their fish. But they do not congregate like this. They were wild-acting.
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Yes, you lucked out indeed! Did you talk to anyone who was also watching them and ask if they knew if this was an odd occurrence for a particular reason? Are they flocking due to the planets aligning? Or the Northern Lights? I’m glad you got to see the flocks and share your photos with us!
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I talked to Jacob who fishes there all the time (I wrote about him on the snowy day and he also brings a little girl to fish with him) and he says the seagulls are attracted to the shad (small feeder fish) as they are “running” – last year we had wall-to-wall shad in the Creek and this year I didn’t see that happen, yet we had some big freezes with brutal weather. I would believe that if they went underwater and came up with a fish. Now this morning I was at the Park and saw one seagull only – go figure.
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Nature is truly fascinating, isn’t it? It was a special day for you to be at the right place at the right time to see all of them there! A fun win for your birdie bucket list!
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Yes it was Shelley … how many more will I see this year?
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I’m guessing you’ll see lots of new opportunities this year. 🙂
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I love a seagull mystery! It could be that those gulls were just taking a breather on their way north for the spring. I remember once, years ago, I visited a park on the banks of the Susquehanna River to watch thousands of gulls streaming north, while the river flowed south beneath them. I’ll never forget the sight of the river of birds flowing in one direction while the river of water flowed in the other!
Can’t wait to see what your new critter is. Good cliffhanger, Linda!
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That sounds like it would have been incredible to see Laurie – all those seagulls streaming in one direction. These seagulls were acting so erratically that I thought it was a one-time occurrence, then they would be gone, but it persists. The screeching is deafening, no matter where you are in the Park. Glad you liked my cliffhanger – hope it doesn’t disappoint. Given the fact that this is a park that is right in the middle of a residential area and along a busy street, a woodchuck and coyote is about as wild as this venue gets. 🙂
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to practice for my eagle friends,I used Gulls. Lots of volunteers!
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Yes, there’s never a shortage of gulls Wayne. Some of the gulls are so bold at Bishop Park where they have grilling areas, they will swipe your food right off the grill and take it “to go” before you can shake a spatula at them!
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yes,I’ve seen videos of Gulls snatching hotdogs from a persons hand! They get bold in those situations! They need somebody with a trained eagle to fly around.(Falconry) Those Gulls would get out of there pretty quickly I bet!
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Yes, they are bold and brazen. The story at Bishop Park was long before newspapers were online but there was on gull who was especially mischievous and people were told to hover around their food because that gull would swipe it from under your nose. 🙂
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there is a Grey Jay (Whiskey Jack) that is very well known in Canada for swopping down and grabbing any food you leave alone for a few seconds while camping!
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I miss the adventures of Canuck … I used to like following him.
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Ya,he was pretty cool wasn’t he! I think a dog got him?
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I don’t remember how he died, but didn’t people who used to see him walking around the same restaurants or outdoor places realize he wasn’t around anymore and I think they created a website for potential sightings of him?
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There wasn’t any body found Linda but the only ground predator that could have taken him would have been a dog. Crows are too big for cats. A Hawk could of done it as well not to mention avian flu?
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Poor thing – you know a human didn’t kill Canuck as he was a legend. I just head on the news that the black bears in Northern Michigan are officially awake so northern counties should put away their birdfeeders until the bears go to bed/den for the Winter. I saw a hawk this morning, so the hawks are back for my region. It was swooping and diving as I entered the Park – easy to spot it, no seagulls today.
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haha Seagullpalooza! That’s funny. We have been seeing a lot too but not as many as you have. I do like seagulls, especially in the wild, not in town hanging around restaurants!
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Thank you Susan! I was trying to coin a word that described how these those seagulls, that were flying around so erratically, looked. Our seagulls wait patiently along the boardwalk at Bishop Park where there is a separate long pier that juts out into the water. They must get the occasional fish that gets tossed back into the water because every so often you see them all fly up at once – but that is about 10 seagulls at most.
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I enjoyed all the gull photos, making me a little nostalgic for all the gulls I saw when I walked by the water in NY.
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Glad you liked the gull photos Anne. I like going down to the Detroit River shoreline for photos of the gulls as there are always seagulls there. I often think to myself that if I shut my eyes, between hearing the screeching gulls, the waves from the freighters and pleasure boats lapping against the seawall, it seems just like a day at the seashore.
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Easy dreaming!
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Yes it is … just close your eyes and you are there. Many years ago in junior high school, we had to watch black and white movies about historical events. The moderator would say “everything is the same but YOU are there!” Haven’t thought of that saying in many decades.
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We don’t get gulls locally. Not enough water for them but they are fun to watch at the beach!
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I like seeing them gliding through the skies on a sunny day – they seem so graceful.
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Linda, we sometimes get a “seagull convention” here where a creek empties into the river. The water is warm in the creek as an industrial plant dumps their waste water there upstream. One day I was driving on the river road on a cold November day with a dark gray sky and there must have been hundreds of them in the air hovering over the creek outlet. It would have made a great photo but I couldn’t pull over as there was too much traffic. Mom was with me and later tried to paint a picture of it but it didn’t turn out very good. I know they are attracted by the warm water as it make for easier fishing as it doesn’t freeze over there, but why so many that particular day? It’s funny but this winter, we’ve hardly seen any. Maybe a couple soaring around but nothing excessive. I wonder what makes them congregate like that and why? I was thinking about that when I took that ducks in mid-air photo for my last WWed. What makes them all take off at the same time – when there is no imminent danger….other than me…..and I had been standing there for five minutes already. There must be a leader in the pack who gives the commands!
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It sure was incredible to see – that’s for sure. Same as yours all appearing at one time, the sky filled with seagulls. I hate when that happens, like if I see deer at Lake Erie Metropark and you are not supposed to stop. Since it was a cold November day, you would have had the car widows shut – I’ll bet you could hear them through the windows. We had a similar situation going on down at Dingell Park for years. You may remember me going to the pavilion area and standing there to take pictures of eagles. Every year in February and March the eagles came to Mud Island which is a small uninhabited island across from Dingell Park. The eagles stayed there fishing from the ice floes or by swooping down during the day and went back to their nests at night. There was a big steel factory nearby on Zug Island and the steam from the molten steel would filter out into the cold Detroit River and melt all the ice in this area by Dingell Park. So eagles came to fish there, but, unfortunately the steel company closed the factory the end of 2020 with just a few parts of the factory still open (administrative only).
So, no eagles anymore. I follow a guy on Facebook who went there all the time and posted pics of the eagles – he kept going this year and reported no more eagles. Now the eagles go near the Fermi II Nuclear Plant in Monroe and Detroit Audubon Society even has a field trip there – once a year the power plant allows a group of people onto its land to photograph the eagles. The Audubon Society had so many people that wanted to see the eagles on the field trip, they had to hold a lottery of sorts since it had to be a small group.
I wonder about why the ducks take off like that too. I liked how you captured that very second when they all took off. The “signal caller” told them “time to go” I guess. 🙂 I was at Heritage Park once and there were lots of ducks on Coan Lake. One interloper flew down from the sky and landed in the water, too close to another duck and a fight broke out … the rest of the ducks all flew up at once. Lots of splashing as they took off!
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What a excellent photography.
Great photos of the seagulls. I had never seen .
Very you shar your favourite nature nook council park point.
Can’t wait to see what your’s New.
Thanks, Linda 🤠❤️
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Thanks Raj – glad you liked the photos! And I suspect you would not have seagulls in your country.. They are graceful when you see them flying, but in a group, they tend to be loud and swoop and dive close to you, especially if thy see you with food. Seagulls have been known to swoop down and steal food off a barbeque grill. I hope you are not disappointed with my Wednesday new critter. Another first to capture.
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Okay, thanks lot, Linda 🤠
Iam so glad to hear!
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We don’t get the Ring-billed Seagulls here in Corpus Christi. Laughing gulls yes, people food scavengers, will take a steak right off your outdoor patio grill. So I don’t know the habits or migratory patterns of the Ring-billed Seagulls.
My hope is that they are eating pests mosquitoes!
Looking forward to your new critter and whatever you learn about the Ring-billed Seagulls!! TD
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Looks like my Gravatar self created emoji added instantly. I cut my long hair which was down to my waste into a pixie! I love it and will make my life easier. I add the TD for the name, it said that would take a few days. I found the instructions on top of your website, but it is WordPress that did not require me to create a blog. It said that I will be able to follow other blogs by adding to my reading links. Will see what happens! TD
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I like the new Gravatar image TD – interesting. I didn’t know you could do that here on WordPress. Well this time your comment and image showed up as TD so it was faster than predicted. That’s good, so it is easier to follow blogs now that you have “registered on WordPress” for lack of a better description. When I was looking for a Gravatar image when I began the blog, I used the picture I used on the home page of my blog … since I have long hair and glasses it works perfectly.
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TD, our Ring-billed Seagulls are bold like that too. Bishop Park is on the Detroit River and about five miles from where I live. They have grills throughout that park and people have complained that they are grilling hot dogs and the seagulls come along and steal the bun or wiener. Guess those seagulls are shameless or hungry. I don’t know if they eat mosquitoes, but I wish they’d eat ticks. I hear we’ll have quite a few this year due to mild Winter … we had a mild and snow-free Winter until late February when we had a bad ice storm and we’ve had snow and wintry precip and high winds throughout March.
I hope you like my new critter and stay tuned to see if I learn anything about these gulls and their mysterious habits.
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Maybe it’s a spring mating ritual? I don’t know much about gulls. Don’t see them often around here.
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I never thought about that Eilene. I’ve not even seen that many gulls at one time by larger bodies of water. I did look and their mating season is in March. I’d have been inclined to think it has something to do with the shad (feeder fish) yet I never saw one gull eating or carrying a fish.
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You were able to get some good action shots. We have also seen some of these gulls around the lake and Mississippi River this spring — most often in rain-soaked farm fields. It isn’t easy getting good photos of them as they scare easily and tend to prefer sitting just out of the range of the camera. But I do enjoy trying.
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Thanks Rebecca! I have never seen such a large group of seagulls and them carrying on so loudly before. I dd end up with a lot of blurry pictures as they were flying in endless circles over the Park. It was amazing, yet eerie.
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Not sure I would have been comfortable in that situation. They always seem angry to me. “Gulls day out” cracked me up. Glad you didn’t find splat on your hat. 🙂
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They did seem pretty wired up Ruth. Glad to give you a smile. I kept thinking they would move on to another venue, or just go back where they came from, but no such luck. Today they were gone again, just one or two which is normal. My hat is still without splats which is amazing given all these seagulls. 🙂
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I used to find gulls to be romantic accessories to seaside places, but after some experience with them, I now consider them equivalent to pigeons at a drive in restaurant.
Still, it’s a shame they made the trip and found so little to eat.
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You’re right JP – it seems like seagulls fit in nicely with a little beach cove or while you’re walking barefoot on the sand, but we have some seagulls that will steal food right off the grill at the parks that have grilling facilities or when people that tote along their own BBQ. They will confiscate a hot dog bun or wiener – it must not burn their mouth/beak? If someone gives one morsel of food to a seagull, the rest show up in record time! The seagulls weren’t there today but were all over the map again yesterday.
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For a split second I thought the final photo was a first look at your “new critter” – ha. As for the very first photo, I think THAT is Jonathan Livingston himself, looking pure and perfect. Would’ve loved to have seen him zoom about the lake at breathtaking speed.
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You know that fur pom pom could be some critter couldn’t it Dave? That wool hat is so warm, lined with shearling – you know from your cold Colorado Winters that a warm hat makes being outside more tolerable. I have been laying the hat on a clean white garbage bag to examine it once I take it off. I was afraid to look the first few days! I thought that seagull looked very pretty in that top shot, more like a dove, like it should be holding an olive branch.
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I kind of miss the “Russian army” fur hat I’d wear in Colorado. Kept the whole head warm, with generous flaps to cover the ears and sides of the face. Wearing it any day of the year down here would be total overkill 🙂
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Ha ha – yes, people might wonder about you wearing it there in all the heat and humidity. I’ve seen those hats in sports apparel sites and they do look warm. I layer up to walk – years of taking the bus to Downtown Detroit taught me how to dress for the bitter cold and snowy days.
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Holy seagull Batman! I have never seen that many seagulls at one time! I love the show the Birds and still watch it if it shows up on TV.
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It was incredible Diane! I was down there the last three days and they are still there … they are acting very erratically with the swooping and diving all over the place. I like the movie “The Birds” too – it was very realistic for its time with all the special effects!
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That’s a lot of seagulls!! Wow, they must’ve been noisy. I wouldn’t feel comfortable getting close to them.
BTW, great word play…seagullpalooza~Nice one!!
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Yes, very noisy Esther. They have calmed down and today I only saw one or two and they were sitting on the surface of the water. The screeching and swooping and diving was a little nightmarish.
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Where did the rest go?? It must’ve made a difference in the ambiance with just a couple of them swimming and none flying overhead. They are some loud birds!!
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It is odd they vanished just like that (snapping fingers) … I thought perhaps the running of the shad (feeder fish) enticed them but in the past, the fish were thick in the water, but not this year. It was very weird to be amongst them swooping down for sure Esther.
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I love shadow selfies!
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Me too Linda – especially those crazy long shadows!
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