When I first came to the Outer Banks in 1983 it was strictly a 3 month resort. Come September the Banks closed up tight. By October you could walk down the roads between the highways and see not even one person. It was lean times through the winter if you were a waitress or some other service oriented job. People I knew would forage for firewood on the beach, pick up tin cans and turn them in for money or, if times were really hard, actually sleep under the pier at night. Even the animal-life endured the long cold winters. Seagulls, perhaps not given enough credit for the enterprising creatures they really are, devised a way to make it through the winter by utilizing a new-found resource. Parking lots! They found they could drop oysters onto the pavement from a height and the shells would break open! I observed them doing this many a winter day and Suzanne Tate wrote about it in my favorite book, "Salty Seagull, a Tale of a Brainy Bird." This is a small watercolor, 4" x 5 1/2" on arches paper, matted to 8" x 10," but not framed. $40.
Friday, January 1, 2010
Sleepy Seagull
When I first came to the Outer Banks in 1983 it was strictly a 3 month resort. Come September the Banks closed up tight. By October you could walk down the roads between the highways and see not even one person. It was lean times through the winter if you were a waitress or some other service oriented job. People I knew would forage for firewood on the beach, pick up tin cans and turn them in for money or, if times were really hard, actually sleep under the pier at night. Even the animal-life endured the long cold winters. Seagulls, perhaps not given enough credit for the enterprising creatures they really are, devised a way to make it through the winter by utilizing a new-found resource. Parking lots! They found they could drop oysters onto the pavement from a height and the shells would break open! I observed them doing this many a winter day and Suzanne Tate wrote about it in my favorite book, "Salty Seagull, a Tale of a Brainy Bird." This is a small watercolor, 4" x 5 1/2" on arches paper, matted to 8" x 10," but not framed. $40.
