HEY I'M WALKING HERE!

I'M WALKIN' HERE,  I'M WALKIN' HERE

We're all territorial to some degree I guess.

By the water, by our house lives a Southern Black-backed Gull

Southern black-backed gullLarus dominicanus Lichtenstein, 1823

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
New Zealand status:Native
Conservation status:Not Threatened
Other names: karoro, kelp gull, dominican gull, black-backed gull, mollyhawk, seagull, blackbacked gull, black backed gull
Geographical variation: Five subspecies recognised; New Zealand birds are of the subspecies dominicanus.

I've named him John.

I was watching John this morning, gently floating on the tide that was nearly full. He was in roughly the same spot as when the tide is out, standing on the rocks and stones at the water's edge.

John has been here a while - I'm not sure how long. The life expectancy of Larus dominicanus Lichtenstein is about 14 years, roughly like the average cat or dog. We've been here for nearly 11 years so John might have been here longer.

John is usually on his own but occasionally is seen with a young gull - a mollyhawk who may be his off-spring unless John does foster care from time to time.

New Zealand Birds On-line - the digital encyclopaedia of New Zealand birds tells me this:

Breeding
Colonial or solitary; monogamous, with shared incubation and chick care. Nest a bulky collection of grass, small sticks or seaweed, or a simple scrape in sand or shingle. Clutch 2-3 large grey-green eggs with dark brown spots and blotches. Laying mainly Oct-Jan. Incubation 23-26 days; chicks fledge at about 7-8 weeks old, and are fed by adults for at least another month.

I don't know where Mrs John lives. Perhaps like me and The Old Girl, she works somewhere else so has a different second home and they meet up on weekends. (My Old Girl is off back to Wellington on Tuesday).

I like it that John is a familiar 'face' here. Rod, my friend and neighbour who rented our house for a couple of years while we were overseas, always brings down a titbit of food for John when he goes walking down our road. John, often sitting on the swimming platform, flies over when he sees Rod.

That's nice.










No religions or religious themes were mentioned in this post other than a subtle allusion to Richard Bach's book where the US self-help and positive thinking culture, which is a sort of religion, dominates.