Every year, the July 4th holiday weekend greatly affects downtown La Jolla. Today traffic was madness, and so was parking. Despite this, it is nice to walk about the town and observe the tourists doing touristy things.

On the theme of "specialness" previously mentioned in this blog, I thought of revisiting the subject of seabirds. In a beach town, seabirds are a nuisance due to their fearlessness and abundance, alike pigeons and rats in New York City. I figured that the commonness of these birds, including pelicans and sea gulls, would allow me the ample opportunity to discover their "special" scene. Within ten minutes of climbing about the sandy cliffs, my attention was drawn toward the chirping of immature western gulls. Their ruffled hairdos and spotted plumage made them infinitely more interesting than the adults.

The fledglings, unable to fly, hopped about, preened the matted feathers and napped. As I sat there watching them, a parent arrived and was swiftly greeted with loud squawks and open beaks. The little ones chased the adult around the bluff before it was able to regurgitate some food for them. The first course was what appeared to a sardine. Unfortunately, gull manners do not call for sharing, and after a brawl, the strongest of the four made away with the whole fish. Feeding continued with another course of fish and finally leftover bread from a cafe.

I left after the dinner, and looked for some pelicans and cormorants, but due to the setting sun, the lighting was unfavorable and I soon packed up for the day.