I just chased a pair of seagulls off of my balcony. I am absolutely determined to not let seagulls nest in my balcony window boxes again. It’s my balcony and I don’t wait to share it. Maybe if the seagulls were nicer I would let them do it, but they are mean and the swoop and they squawk. Loudly.
In Copenhagen, I saw one gull swallow a large baby in a single gulp. I am afraid of them. I know that’s wimpy of me and I know that I am being a bit cruel in chasing them off, but I do have my reasoning. You see, two years ago a pair of seagulls nested in my window box. When we came back from holiday, they had made a nest. They were rather sweet looking. When eggs appeared a few days later, I did not have the heart to get rid of them. I thought the chicks would hatch soon and be on their way and I could plant my flowers. I was wrong. Instead it seemed to take forever for the eggs to hatch. Mom and dad would take their turns sitting on the nest and if I so much as tried to open my balcony door, I would receive a very mean squawk. And if I attempted to ignore them and simply walk to my table at the other end of the balcony, I would be swooped and squawked at. I did not like being swooped. Once the babies hatched, mom and dad got even more protective. And mean. I understood their reasoning, but I got tired of being harassed.
The babies were kind of cute and we enjoyed watching them grow. But they were soon a tasty temptation for other gulls and mom and dad were constantly at war. Robert and I tried our best to help, even going so far a to rescue a dropped baby twice. Eventually, all the babies died and I truly felt very bad about that. Even so, I don’t want to share my balcony. It’s simply too stressful.
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