Problem
Dreadful cawing outside the window. I go to look and a sea gull is standing there with its beak open, standing on one leg, and the foot of the other leg is missing. I later looked up the word for a bird's foot. If it has three linked bones in a foot used for swimming it can be called a webbed foot or palmate but it's okay to refer to the bird's feet as feet.
The gull turns its head upward. Its beak opens in a V-shape.
Answer
I call a friend Anita. She says it looks like an old, healed wound. I must admit, he is balancing very well on one leg. Not sure you and I could do that for a long time with a tiny leg relative to a big body.
After a while he (or she) stops making a noise and watches us, quite happily. The view over the Fishguard Bay is good, soothing, restful. If you must recuperate from physical or mental stress, Fishguard Bay is as peaceful a place as any. Providing you don't mind squawking sea gulls.
Long-lived Albert The Sea Gull
Another friend, who also goes to Wales every year, said, "This year I didn't see my friend Albert, the sea gull. I wonder if he died."
We started speculating. Would you know Albert she sea gull from his twin brother, twin sister, or offspring?
How old was Albert when you first met him?
How long does a sea gull live?
At least my sea gull with the missing foot had identifying characteristics. I think I should give him a Welsh name. How do you get a sea gull to answer to its name? I read how you train dogs. You call them by their name and give them treats (to eat). After a day or two when this becomes a habit, then alternate treats with hugs.
If you see a sea gull, with a missing foot, please give him our regards.
View from Fishguard Bay Hotel.
You can get the view over the bay from a front bedroom window or from the front terrace.
Fishguard Bay Hotel
Pembrokeshire
Fishguard
Wales
visitwales.com
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.
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