The Seabird’s Cry: The Lives and Loves of Puffins, Gannets and Other Ocean Voyagers

by Adam Nicolson

At one pool, where a couple of bird scientists happened to be watching, a herring gull arrived, rushed into the gang of mallards, grabbed a piece of bread, swam a few feet away towards the middle of the pool and then started to lift and drop the bread into the water. Each time, the bread broke into smaller pieces. Once he had scattered it into perfect crumbs, the gull stayed there waiting, as still as glass, neck out, head down, looking intently at the surface of the water. After a few seconds, the goldfish in the pool came up to nibble at the crumbs and the gull struck, about one in every two strikes resulting in a catch and a goldfish down the gullet. Once the bread had gone, the gull swam over to the people around the edge of the pool, stared hard at them, waiting for another piece of bread to be thrown in. After they had given it one, the gull repeated the whole process. It never ate the bread.