At The Backroads

Gull In Flight

Pardon me if I will take a break from San Diego Backroads right now. Instead of featuring a place in the backroads for a place to hike, I will for this post talk instead about my experience with a sea gull yesterday. Yes, it was Valentine’s Day yesterday, and we spent our Valentines doing a leisurely hike at Torrey Pines State Reserve, which is not just a beach but a great place for a relaxing hike.

Beach Trail @ Torrey Pines State Reserve

There are 8 miles of branching trails on top of the reserve which protects the nation’s rarest pine, the Torrey Pines.

Torrey Pine Trees @ the Reserve

But this post is not about any of the trails above the bluffs, but about that one gull who caught my eye yesterday. My first experience with the gulls was not very good. I was naive then as to how gulls can quickly snatch your food away. I just bought then a sandwich and was carrying it with me. When I got to the beach, oh, the water and the waves called me. I decided to finish my sandwich first before jumping into the water. However, I could not eat my sandwich standing, so I decided to lay flat a beach towel on sand so I can take a sit and have my sandwich. I had to free my hands then from my sandwich, to grab the beach towel in my backpack. The moment I put my sandwich on top my backpack, freed the sandwich from my hold so I can grab the towel inside, a gull quickly dived in to take my sandwich! I got so shocked and scared from a sudden gull attack that I must have looked funny when I quickly docked down as if avoiding an air strike. My sandwich was too heavy for the gull that in about three arms length the gull lose its hold. But there came a lot more gulls to feast on a food one of them snatched. I felt guilty for unintentionally feeding wildlife, which is not encouraged at all. I ended up picking up my torn pieces of sandwich paper and put them into trash bin and yes, dashed to a Mexican taco shop nearby and bought rice, bean and cheese burrito, but finished the burrito right there and did not bring it anymore to the beach.

So, what I saw yesterday reminded me of that incident. I saw gulls happily fishing in the water, but I have not seen them actually eating a fish. Yesterday, while walking on shore, I saw a gull with a fish on his mouth. Since I do not have a video, I took a series of shots instead of how the gull swallowed the fish. I was not at a very good angle to take a picture, but I was afraid to move any further for I may scare the gull away.

Gull Eating Fish (1 )

Gull Eating Fish (2)

Gull Eating Fish (3)

Gull Eating Fish (4)

Gulls Eating Fish (5)

Gulls Eating Fish (6)

Gull Eating Fish (7)

Gull Eating Fish (8)

Gull Smiled After Swallowing the Fish

It is hard for me to believe that a gull can swallow the whole fish, though the fish was not really that huge. And further, I could not believe that the gull, after swallowingthe fish whole, went to the water again, probably to fish more?

Heading Back Into the Water

Waiting for the Right Time

I wonder what this gull thinks, food again?

Do you know that the larger gulls have a mobbing behavior? They are resourceful and highly intelligent birds, yet they attack in group to mob and harass would-be predators and intruders.

There are many types of gulls, I found this website helpful in knowing more about them:

1) http://www.chesapeakebay.net/bfg_seagull.aspx?menuitem=14376

2) http://www.pestcontrol-products.com/gull.htm

3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull

Gulls may look cute, but we have to remind ourselves to take care of our foods if we are at the beach, for the gulls can snatch your foods away. Even if they mostly eat fish, clams and shells, but they can take away your vegetarian meal too .

I went to La Jolla for a walk last Wednesday after work thinking I would be missing the sun for several days. I was thinking there would be a lot of clouds rolling in that day since Thursday was forecasted to have rain. However, when I got there, the sky was still so blue with only a thin wall of marine layer at the far horizon.

California Brown Pelicans

 I started my walk a little bit disappointed because I was imagining rolling clouds that were not there. However, it seemed the wildlife covered up for what I was missing. California brown pelicans and gulls kept on flying above me,

Gull in Flight

some of them resting on bluffs,

Brown Pelica’s Red Pouch, Winter Breeding Color

 some sea gulls sharing the rocks with the seals,

Gulls and Harbor Seals

that in time I was entertained by what I was seeing while walking and not minding anymore the clouds that I was missing. What surprised me most are the presence of wildflowers on the slopes of the coastal hills already.

La Jolla Wildflowers

The sight of these wildflowers put joy into my heart, I love flowers and I always look forward for spring to see a lot more flowers in the trails. I am not seeing a lot yet in the trails, but a little bloom here and there, and seeing a carpeting yellow on the slopes made me excited for the coming spring, which for San Diego standard comes late February or early March, that is the time I usually see a lot more flowers in the trail.

Carpeting Flowers on the Slopes

Looking at the flowers makes it an almost spring now, and the presence of wildflowers seem like a smile to me beyond compare.

The Smile of Spring

Anyway, these sights just make me dreamy hoping to see more colors in the next weeks to come, especially we had been enjoying rain since Thursday. Today is a nice day with very little rain, and we managed to hike to Woodson Mountain, which I will make a post sometime this week.  I had all my wished clouds today, no sunset though since the West is filled with dark clouds.

Here are some more pictures from my leisurely walk last Wednesday at La Jolla.

Moon Over Dragon Trees

The Dragon Tree is a succulent type of tree-size species with stout trunks and dense umbrella-shaped canopy of thick leaves. The tree got its name from its red sap, which was thought to be dragon’s blood by early inhabitants of the tree’s native Canary Islands.

Cormorants on La Jolla Caves

Sea Lions

Pelican Bluff (the bluff is where you can view best the pelicans and the sea lions)