Awing, these dark-mantled, snowy-bodied birds are an inspiring sight. Wheeling and curving above a gentian sea, their white plumage glinting in the sun, they seem a living mirror of the ocean. Even on land their movements are graceful as they walk daintily on long legs.
Altho to man they typify beauty, to other birds they appear dark demons. Murres, Cormorants and other sea birds yield eggs and young on the sacrificial altar. Small Cormorants are bolted entire and they seem insane with blood-lust, for many larger birds are killed and left. Murder for the fun of it is quite beyond understanding. If Gulls were designed as a check on other life it should have been limited to destruction for food.
On fish wharves and other piers the birds are tame and sit unconcerned within a few feet of people. The good they perform as scavengers is rewarded by protection. They are seldom molested.
They are playful, chasing a windblown feather or careening thru the air in a game of follow-my-leader.
Pacific coast from British Columbia south to Lower California.