While watching the Heritage Golf Tournament, something struck me as interesting. The TV cameras showed shots of egrets and ospreys. I know, you’re saying, so what? Well, the what is, why do some of them stay down there and others go to the trouble of flying up here for the summer? For example, many laughing gulls go south for the winter and return to the marsh here in North Wildwood about April 1 each year. Others don’t bother migrating, but rather remain in southern coastal locales.
One would think that all of them would simply remain in the South, so what’s the deal? Do some of them not like the heat down there, similar to the likes and wants of human snowbirds? I don’t know, but I also find it interesting that the laughing gulls, egrets, and ospreys all show up here at about the same time, but they leave on very different schedules.
The laughing gulls usually leave a day or two after Labor Day, although they left a couple of days before Labor Day last year. The ospreys hang around a bit longer, usually until later in September. Egrets, however, stick around even later, until well into October or even November.
Some gulls, including laughing gulls, stick around to tough out the winter. These birds spend much of their time hanging around parking lots, hoping someone will drop some food. So, we have the snowbirds which fly south for the winter and return in the spring, others that remain in the south for the entire year, and still others that stay up north for the entire year. I’m not sure why some make different choices than others, but I’m not a naturalist, so I don’t care. I only know that it’s true.
I’ve never observed ospreys or egrets staying for the winter.
Tbe species name for the laughing gull is cachinnans, which derives from Latin and means to laugh heartily. Well, they do make a lot of noise, but calling it laughter is a bit of a stretch. If a person made those noises at me I’d probably punch him in the mouth.
They can hardly be called picky eaters, because their diet includes fish, worms, insects (they really keep the greenhead populace down), snails, crabs, crab eggs, berries, garbage, offal, and whatever else they can confiscate. You don’t have to look up offal, because I already took care of that: it’s the internal organs of a dead animal. I suggest we rename it “awful,” which is pronounced the same.
Whenever possible, they prefer handouts, rather than actually hunting down food on their own. I know they like french fries, pretzels, pizza crusts, funnel cakes, and crab fries from Chickie’s and Pete’s. They eat just about anything, with little regard to actual taste. Their motto is, “If it’s free, I’ll take it!” They show up at any festival held before they leave for the winter.
Most gulls eat pretty much the same thing, with the exception being that the larger herring gulls and great black-backed gulls tend to eat the youngsters and eggs of the laughing gulls, and sometimes eat the mature laughing gulls. This is not a laughing matter, but they laugh about it anyway.
The male laughing gulls try to hook up with females, and they then build a nest. If they have no success cruising the bars or sitting on benches on the boardwalk, they build a nest and hope to attract a female looking for a nice home. Those that live in marshes make a mat from straw and grasses, hoping it will float during flood tides. They fashion a cup from the grass to hold the anticipated eggs. These are single-story homes with only one room, because laughing gulls are known to be rather frugal.
Ha ha, just kidding! They only need one room because they do no cooking and have no need for toilet facilities. In case you haven’t noticed, they do most of their business while flying, and I’m not talking about financial transactions. Nor do they bother building a roof over their homes being that their feathers shed water, I suppose.
I find it puzzling that they somehow seem to know when April 1 rolls around and I wonder what gives them that knowledge? We’re not talking about, oh, they’ll be here sometime around March, or April, or May, we’re talking the swallows of Capistrano. Every year I’ve lived here they showed up within a day or two of April 1, and I can only surmise they want to get settled in so they can complete their tax returns in time. But do they have calenders?
I also mentioned that they took off before Labor Day last year, and the puzzling thing about that is that plenty of boardwalk food was still available.
Virginia Beach, Bald Head Island, North Carolina, and Myrtle Beach, in South Carolina, all have Labor Day Weekend events with plenty of food, including barbecue, so perhaps the gulls find these events too good to pass up. Where there’s barbecue you can bet there are French fries and funnel cakes, both food staples of the laughing gull.
Another interesting fact about laughing gulls is that they love to share food. Ha, ha, I’m kidding again! If one latches onto a discarded pizza crust it spends considerable time fleeing from its best friends, which think it belongs to them. The gull with the food makes many evasive maneuvers, and often tries to run the chasers into the side of a building. They all have a good laugh about that!
Despite the gulls’ penchant for boardwalk food, it’s best to not attempt to feed them. In fact, it’s against the law, but the birds generally ignore most laws. Although they’re not usually aggressive, they will sometimes swoop down and help themselves to whatever you happen to be eating. Not much you can do about that.