Well, I’m dreaming of an early Spring … is it out of reach? We were cheated out of a long, lovely Fall after wintry weather began back on November 9th. The groundhog’s prognostication of six more weeks of Winter made most Michiganders mad – me too! We are having 71F/21C tomorrow, but snow on Thursday!
I wonder what this gull is dreaming of?
Now, you may think that I’m strictly a “squirrel girl” but seagulls give me cause to pause too, especially when I have the camera with me.
Songbirds, unless they are busy filling their beak with food or nesting materials, never linger or they spook easily. Great Blue Herons – please tread carefully or they’ll bolt once they see the whites of your eyes. Geese are great, until they’re not. I mean, if you glance at them the wrong way, or it appears you might want to scoop up one of their offspring, they’ll glower at you or have a hissy fit with wing flapping or hissing with that bright-pink tongue. Swans will chase you if they feel threatened. Ducks are mostly polite but that’s because they see you as a potential meal ticket.
But gulls … now that’s a different story.
I find them to be photogenic. Especially when I see them in pensive poses like the Ring-billed Gull you see in the featured image.
In last week’s post I included a few gulls as I stood on the Boardwalk at Bishop Park in Wyandotte, but for me, that day was mostly about the Redhead Duck and the Mute Swans.
Since I want to give seagulls equal press time, I’m going to tell you about my stop at this Riverfront park, only we’ll flip the switch and go from the heart of Winter and flash back to late last Summer.
Just like my recent visit to this venue, I was solo on the Boardwalk which is in contrast to warm weather weekends when the fishing pier is usually hoppin’ with anglers and the Boardwalk is crowded with many folks getting in their steps.
She sells seashores by the seashore.
It was September 11th and the fourth day in a row I set out for long walks and lots of picture taking, invigorated by the finally cooler temps.
Because of the solemnity of the day, I decided to begin my day down at the Detroit River. I planned to be there early, reflect a little and hopefully capture a photo of the fishing pier in the early morn, like this shot from back in January 2018.
Unfortunately, that plan was dashed when I awoke to fog … not the pea soup variety, but enough to keep me home slightly longer.
But there would be no missed opportunity due to the mist either. By the time I arrived at Bishop Park, the sky was just overcast, quite different from September 11, 2001, when it was a gorgeous, sun-filled morning.
As I exited the car, I heard a voice coming from a truck that was parked nearby. It was evidently a news program as I could hear a recitation of names, most likely the names of some of those who were lost 24 years ago.
The driver pulled away and I was pulled back into the present. It was silent except for some seagulls.
I took a photo of the flags at half staff, another solemn reminder of the anniversary date.
I got the coveted picture of the pier, but sadly without the wiggly pier posts. I saw no freighters on the horizon. I usually see at least one when I visit here. Soon we will see freighters again as Winter lay-up is over as of March 25th when the Soo Locks in Sault Ste Marie open up again.
Any season when I visit this venue, if the Ring-billed Gulls are cruising overhead, filling the sky with their noisy screeches, I can place myself at any beach, strolling along the shoreline, gentle waves lapping up and over my feet and spilling onto the sand.
Except there is no beach here, just a cement Boardwalk and wooden railings, separating you from the Detroit River.
There were several seagulls lined up. If you think all seagulls look alike, look again. The Juveniles have spotted plumage and a dark-tipped bill.
A few looked toward me hopefully “would the nice lady with the camera share a treat with us?”
I do think they like “hammin’ it up” sometimes.
Would you define this look as “coy” or “shy”?
Is this seagull doing morning yoga or studying its toenails?
This gull might likewise be exercising or perhaps the seagull version of the Hokey-Pokey. You put your left foot in ….
It’s important to get your steps in – I wonder how it keeps track though?
Is this gull disgruntled about his railing mate and airing its grievances or just screeching to itself?
And why is the above gull, like some others below, standing on one leg? In Winter this helps keep their legs/feet warm as this part of their body is not insulated – in Summer, I guess it’s just for a change of pace.
Occasionally, the gulls raised a ruckus as a bully gull would take someone’s preferred perching spot, prompting the latecomer to fly off in a snit.
After taking a ton of photos of my feathered friends, I took this photo after the wording on the memorial park bench caught my eye and I knew I would mention the anniversary of September 11th.
It was time to move on to Downtown Wyandotte and BASF Park – the rest of my stroll will be next week.
Terri’s Sunday Stills Photo Challenge this week is: “Seascapes”. Since Terri is on vacation for a few weeks, this week’s Challenge is being hosted by Cathy, who blogs at “Between the Lines”.
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
I loved your exercising seagulls.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks Anne! Their antics are fun to watch and photograph.
LikeLike
Your gull closeups are amazing, the way you capture their facial expressions! The sunrise photo over the pier was good too. Cloudiness added atmosphere. And that message on the bench is a good reminder that life is short.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Debbie! I like photographing gulls as they’ll hold a pose for a long time, so I often have good luck with them on the Boardwalk railing, but not so much once they are in the air. I had a lot of fun facial expressions and antics this time and I held one photo from this group to use for March 18th, my sixth anniversary of continuous Wordless Wednesday posts and will invite people to caption the photo. I was happy to get that original picture of the pier – it was soft light as the sun had just risen. I thought the bench was a good reminder too. I once did a post featuring all the memorial benches at this park and I Googled their names and obituary information to learn about the honoree.
LikeLike
Gorgeous sunrise to start, Linda and wonderful shots of the gulls. A timely reminder on the bench too. Thanks for joining in 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Cathy! It is a very peaceful venue and if you shut your eyes, it would appear you are at a beach or shoreline setting. They have quite a few memorial benches here, all with meaningful messages. You’re welcome; thank you for hosting in Terri’s stead.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too often, I see gulls as inland trash scavengers, so these shots help me to reorient. They are beautiful in close up, and I had never noticed the variety.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I agree with you JP – seagulls often terrorize our picnic areas, circling overhead and unbelievably, even swooping down to steal something off a grill. They are photogenic and you can get fairly close to them before they bolt. At a glance, you don’t really notice the difference unless you see them all lined up.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The gulls are beautiful. My memory of them is trying to steal food at the beach.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think they are photogenic and beautiful too Kate. At least you can sneak up close to seagulls for a few shots before they bolt. Yes, they are bad for hovering overhead and/or swooping down to steal food that is sitting out, or even stealing food cooking on a grill.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fantastic seagull captures, Linda. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Pepper! Seagulls are a favorite subject of mine!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can see why. I hope you enjoy the sunshine today. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is peaceful, especially on a weekday. I did enjoy the sunshine. It felt like an April or early May day!
LikeLiked by 1 person
These are great linda
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Kirstin! Seagulls are one of my favorite birds to photograph!
LikeLike
You’ve captured the buoys and gulls so artfully, Linda! That was a beautiful day in September! I agree that seagulls are photogenic and put on a fun show!
Today is our last day in Gilbert, AZ before we drive the short 2 hours to Tucson tomorrow. I’ve collected so many amazing pics and more later today at the nearby riparian preserve. We saw a cardinal up close and personal serenading us with his song on Saturday. Such a thrill! Thanks for supporting my co-hosts this month!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Terri! I love photographing seagulls with their antics and they are so photogenic – you can’t go wrong taking their photos. You’ve been lucky with photos too – that’s great! It’s also great you got to see a cardinal and hear his song. They are beautiful birds. I saw my first red-winged blackbird today. That’s a sign of Spring for me – we got to 73 degrees here today. A local meteorologist says Arizona and California is in for a heatwave the rest of the month, so enjoy your fun in the sun and safe travels. I forgot to comment on Cathy’s post, so I’m going to do that now. I had tagged her but went on her site last night with my link.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love you pier capture, Linda! The lovely Ring-billed Gull shots with all the funny captions made me giggle!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Donna! The pier and Boardwalk are a nice spot to enjoy a short stroll with the seagulls in the warmer months. I did have quite a collection of funny seagull expressions to make captions for their antics. I’m happy to give you a giggle!
LikeLiked by 1 person
You come up with great questions and comments to go with your full images!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Eilene! I have fun with my seagull posts as I find them so photogenic and their expressions and antics are funny, like these. I have one more funny seagull photo from this day to share on March 18th. It will be my sixth anniversary of continuous Wordless Wednesday posts and I’ll ask people to caption it just for kicks. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Gull
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally relate to your feelings about how cooperative and photogenic gulls are! I thoroughly enjoyed your visit with these guys hanging out on the boardwalk. Love their facial expressions and the narrative you created.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Barbara, I knew you would relate to this post as you feel the same way about seagulls that I do. It is more fun to visit them, just as you often did, when the venue is not crowded and you kind of have them to yourself. The seagulls just go on about their business, their business being fun antics and facial expressions like these which made it fun to create that narrative. I have one more very funny seagull picture to share on the 18th for Wordless Wednesday, my 6th year of doing continuous Wordless Wednesdays.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, that’s quite a record! I don’t think I’ve done anything consistently on my blog for six years!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Barbara! I remember it because I was at the Detroit River, just the week before the COVID pandemic began and I took pictures of Dingell Park, some of it was iced over and some of the water was fine due to the swift current. I went down before work hoping to get some eagles fishing, but did not find any. That was just before we started following one another.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think she is neither shy or coy, I think she’s trying to look sexy for her photo ! I can’t wait for spring but our temperatures here are supposed to drop again tonight and we are supposed to get up to 40 cm of rain tomorrow …ugh.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, I never thought of that angle Susan! 🙂 They are photogenic and funny with their expressions sometimes. We dropped 25 degrees in a few hours as a cold front is coming in with severe weather and it’s for my area. The worst severe weather for here will be at 2:00 a.m. and we are like you with torrential rain all day long – but wow for you with 40 cm of rain – 15 inches? We are getting 1.5 – 2 inches (5 cms) and there are already concerns for that. We once had a freeway in Detroit that couldn’t empty the water quickly enough and the people were rescued from their car roof and the cars were left bobbing around in the water.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes we have had alerts on our phones already that we might lose electricity. Hopefully not!
LikeLiked by 1 person
How was the storm for you Susan? Hopefully you didn’t lose your power. I stayed up until 4:00 a.m. today – we did not get the tornadic activity, nor hail in the end, just a bad thunderstorm, torrential rain and lots of lightning. It didn’t arrive until 3:15 and I stayed up as it was so loud and rumbly out. We have had rain all day today.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The weatherman lied ! lol We did not get a lot of rain, no freezing rain and although it was pretty windy overnight, we did not lose power. Today is chilly but bright and sunny !
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s great! I love when the weatherman is wrong! Like Tuesday when I worried all day/evening watching the other tornado damage and it ended up being a bad thunderstorm as the bad cell fizzled out before reaching my area. We have very gusty winds Friday (for Friday the 13th – oh joy), up to 60 mph (96 kmh). My favorite weatherman is on Twitter/X and yesterday I popped on there as I usually do several times a day and I’m locked out. I contacted X and they said it would be several days until someone can assist. At least my other weather sites are on other platforms, but he is my go-to guy for any bad weather.
LikeLiked by 1 person
We had another blizzard Friday night, last night. Did you get it? And it is snowing off and on again today. When will it end? lol
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh no – when your snow was almost gone! That’s awful! No, we will get ice overnight tonight, but even though it’s cold enough for ice, it will be 65 in the afternoon. But gusty winds all day Sunday (60 mph (96 km/h) and it becomes severe again late in the night/overnight with another tornado threat late/overnight. I’m upset about all this severe weather, the third bout in one week. We had winds up to 72 mph (115 km/h) all day Friday and it started at 5:00 a.m. and I stayed up until 2:00 a.m. Saturday because it was still very gusty out there. I worry ever since the downed wire fire that happened while I was sleeping. I hope this weather stabilizes soon!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope it stabilizes soon too. It’s Sunday morning and snowing hard…..again. when is it going to stop? lol I hate the wind, that is probably my most hated weather event. It seems to be windy a lot, all year round, the last few years.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That amazing with all the snow! We have no snow, but were supposed to get a wintry mix early Sunday morning and minor ice build-up but that didn’t happen, but it is roaring out there again and we still will have a severe thunderstorm, possible tornado or two (*one* tornado freaks me out, but *”a tornado or two”* about does me in even if it is a low, level 1 threat as those storms in western Michigan on March 6th were a level 1 that morphed into an EF3 tornado in no time and devasted the entire town). Our storm is after 8:00 p.m., in the dark again. In Michigan’s Upper Peninsula they have blizzard-like conditions and are expecting 3-4 feet (91 to 121 cms) of snow! I also don’t remember it always being so windy and it seemed every big park I went to last year, I arrived to little or no wind and shortly thereafter, the wind was blowing and so I kept backing up from the water and couldn’t hold the DSLR steady. I used my compact digital camera more last year than the DSLR.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Like you Linda, I love the seagulls. They are so pretty and fun to watch as your pictures show. I really love the gulls flying pictures, great captures! Your captions are so clever as always! Stay safe with the storm heading your way Wednesday!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Diane! Yes, the seagulls are great as they stay put for a long time unless you get too close to them, so you have lots of time to take their picture. I’m glad you liked the captions too and I had so many funny photos I figured I’d have some fun with them. I saved one seagull photo from that walk for next week’s Wordless Wednesday and I’m going to ask people to caption it instead of me choosing the title. How did you guys do with the storm – were you hit badly? I saw some photos of Indiana’s devastation and also a picture of some 8-inch hail in Illinois and the one hail chunk was bigger than the person’s hand that was holding it in their palm. I stayed up until 4:00 a.m. today – we did not get the tornadic activity they had predicted, nor the hail in the end, just a bad thunderstorm, torrential rain and lots of lightning. It didn’t arrive until 3:15 a.m., but I stayed up after I shut my computer as it was so loud and rumbly out. We have had rain all day today and a flood advisory and will be getting snow and a wintry mix over the next few days – crazy weather. I was worried about the prediction they gave that put my area in the bullseye, especially after seeing all the devastation from the three tornados last Friday in western Michigan.
LikeLike
They come in so many different color patterns also. Actually a very pretty bird I think.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is amazing how different they are because at a glance they all look the same. I like the juveniles with their spots, especially the brown-spotted ones. I think they are pretty too Sandra.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Enjoyed this post so much and I did think the all looked way more alike then they do – wow
and coy –
and just screeching to itself
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Yvette! They do all look similar at a glance, but … when you see them lined up like they are here and you can get up close to them, you see the differences, especially with the spotted juveniles which I think are kind of cute. Yes, they do have definite attitudes sometimes and I have one more photo from this venue for next Wednesday, a real funny shot of a seagull to share. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
💜💜 I look forward to seeinf next Wednesdays
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hope you can come up with a fun quip Yvette!
LikeLiked by 1 person
💜💜
LikeLiked by 1 person
The 2018 photo of the pier will be hard to beat – beautiful image. And your temps mimic ours here the South this week. A dose of summer up until today; now a plunge of 20 degrees through the weekend. What a strange winter we’ve had. As for gulls, you make a solid case for their appeal but I can’t get the West Coast variety out of my mind. They’re quite a bit bigger than yours in your photos, and they’re determined scavengers on the beach. I’ve seen them go after sandwiches and such with sun-worshipers within arm’s length. And of course, they have a curious habit of flying north/south right where beachfront properties (like ours) meet the sand. That occasionally means “duck!” (no pun intended 🙂 )
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you Dave. I was pretty happy with that 2018 picture – maybe I shouldn’t try to replicate it. 🙂 The gulls are unique as they are content to just perch on the Boardwalk railing, so I can get some photos of them, but they can be like your West Coast gulls sometimes, raucous and, in the area behind the riverfront, there are grills and picnic tables, so they are known to swoop down and steal food from the table. Years ago there was one particular gull at this park that used to grab hot dogs and buns right off the grills with no shame. But what about a burnt tongue? The weather has been crazy – we had two days in a row this week in the mid-70s where we broke longstanding records. We had severe weather Tuesday night and now we are back in the 20s with a wintry mix in store on several days. I don’t ever recall Winter weather being as erratic as the last few years. P.S. – No post for you today?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Been a heckuva busy week. Every now and then the blog has to step aside. I may still sneak one in on the weekend 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sounds like a plan Dave! I know that feeling and admit to spending a lot more time on mine than I should.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your gulls have a lot of personality! I like them too, but find them annoying sometimes at the beach with their loud cries and their determination to steal french fries or whatever food you might have brought.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes Joni, my gulls do have a lot of personality! 🙂 I think the fact that I don’t have food with me and in the last two visits I was the only one on the Boardwalk, that keeps them focused on doing “gull things” and not being obnoxious. When the fisherman are fishing from the pier in the warmer weather, the gulls will hover over them while trying to snag a fish if a fisherman throws a small fish back into the water, or they have their caught fish in buckets and they will swoop down. We had one seagull years ago at this same park and I remember my mom reading an article in the paper about it as it quite a novelty at the time – that seagull would swipe food not only from picnic tables, but swoop down and take wieners and buns right off the grill. Bishop Park has their own grills in the park area, so lots of people have picnics there – a pretty smart gull, but I don’t know how it didn’t burn its tongue?
LikeLiked by 1 person