Hellooo readers! My name is Spud. I’m a herring gull chick that lives on the garden roof of the Boston Children’s Museum (right outside the window of FableVision Studios), and I was born just a couple of weeks ago!
Here's our mom nesting.
Seagulls typically lay three eggs. One, two, three. That would be my siblings, Hamburger and French Fry and myself! Just like all seagull clutches, Burger and Frenchie hatched first, within a few hours of each other. The third egg (that’s me!) typically hatches a day later, and that chick is smaller than the other two.
Our story started when our seagull parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herring, formed a pair and built a nest on the rooftop garden. They do this every year! They work together to take care of the eggs, and now they take turns feeding us, too. Today for lunch, Dad regurgitated a great mush of small fish and invertebrates from the ocean. Yummmmmmy!
After lunch, Burger, Frenchie, and I practiced walking. It’s really difficult walking around on these big feet! I fall over a lot. My tiny wings aren’t big enough yet to help me balance. When rain rolls in, Mom fusses over us till we get back in the nest and she sits on us to keep us cozy and dry. Soon though, I’ll be big enough to hang out in the rain without getting too chilled. When the weather is nice, I’ll take a nap with my siblings in the grass or rocks. Our spotted feathers camouflage us so well, that we blend right into the roof!
Mom says that we’ll be getting big enough to fly soon. Our flight feathers are already growing in, and I’ll be flying for the first time in about a month! I’m so excited! After I’m big enough to fly away, Mom and Dad will still help care for me and my siblings for half a year. And even then, Burger and Frenchie and I won’t look like Mom and Dad until we’re two years old. So until then, we’re stuck with these spots. I really like them though!
People on the floor above love to stare at us through the windows. They get waaaay too excited when we poop. Or eat things. Or flap our wings. What is the deal with them...
Seagull art by Taryn Johnson
Post written by Taryn Johnson, Production Artist and Animator, and Hannah O'Neal, Artist and Animator. Photos and videos by Bill Gonzalez, Producer.
