Somehow I didn't notice this juvenile had only one leg at the time, but I've seen him at the pool since. I wonder how long he'll survive. I have seen an adult with one good leg and one shriveled leg, so perhaps it's possible to live with only one leg as a gull? I'll keep an eye on him. Or her. It's impossible to sex gulls, so I don't know which of these are males and females.

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis)

Last Sunday, I went down to the reflecting pool and shared a SeaCrunch bar with my feathered friends. As soon as I pulled it out and opened the package, several gulls and a few pigeons had surrounded me and more came as I tossed them a few pieces as I ate. After I finished and gave them all the crumbs, I was surrounded by a nice little mob and decided to take my camera out and get some photos.

I don't normally feed wild animals, but, well, they're ring-bills and pigeons - people food is a large part of what they eat. Also, the SeaCrunch had a lot of personal meaning to me and I wanted to make something of a ritual out of eating it. It was given to me by someone very special, a fellow gull-lover who always liked hearing my silly gull stories.

I must say that the gulls seemed to love this snack as much as I did - it's good stuff.