Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!csd4.milw.wisc.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!orion.cf.uci.edu!uci-ics!zardoz!tgate!ka3ovk!drilex!axiom!linus!pc From: pc@mitre.org (Melissa P. Chase) Newsgroups: rec.birds Subject: Re: bird begging Message-ID: Date: 9 Aug 89 19:57:01 GMT References: <4529@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu> <3067@nmtsun.nmt.edu> Sender: pc@linus.UUCP Distribution: na Organization: Mitre Corporation, Bedford, MA. Lines: 27 In-reply-to: john@nmtsun.nmt.edu's message of 9 Aug 89 03:06:12 GMT John Shipman's account of brazen gulls reminds me of an experience I had last summer. My friend Kathy and I went birdwatching at Plum Island. After spending the morning driving up and down the island looking at shorebirds, we stopped at one of the beaches. We had a snack of Stella D'Oro breadsticks, some cheese, and some grapefruit juice (in those coated cardboard cartons). While we were eating, a Herring Gull was standing nearby watching very intently. We decided to go for a swim, and packed up the remaining food in a knapsack (which we partially zippered). While we were swimming, Kathy points to some Stella D'Oro cellophane wrapping floating in the water and says, "That looks our lunch!" I said, "No, it couldn't be. We packed it in the knapsack." When we got out of the water and walked back to our stuff, we saw remnents of our lunch scattered on the beach! There wasn't a single breadstick left. Cartons of juice, punctured and empty, were lying on the ground. A couple of gulls were standing nearby, looking rather smug. Obviously while we were swimming, the gull who had been watching us gathered some of his cronies, they managed to get the food out of the knapsack (they probably unzipped it a bit more), and helped themselves to our lunch. I must admit, I was pretty impressed. Penny -- UUCP: { ... }!linus!pc INTERNET: pc@mitre.org