Down on State Pier this afternoon, the Herring Gulls were strutting around as usual, looking to steal food from one another, or from another bird. They were looking particularly bright and cheerful today, and I finally realized why: almost all of the adults have finished molting, and they are now resplendent in their breeding season plumage.
This can only mean that breeding season is coming soon, or has already started. Because the rooftops of downtown New Bedford are the site of a Herring Gull nesting colony, this means we will soon have to listen as the Herring Gulls scream and squawk their love songs to one another on the roof of our building. I am not looking forward to Herring Gull nesting season.
I left my college campus yesterday afternoon, in temperatures of about 20, with some miserable wind chill. I was huddled in my big down coat, shivering as I walked toward my car. But there on the sidewalk was a young woman in blue jeans and a tight white shirt, three quarter sleeves. She was chatting away to someone on her cell phone, completely oblivious to the weather. She looked particularly bright and cheerful too.