A Lesson in Nature

This falls into the category of 'Who Knew'! I recently visited Larabee State Park, was peacefully watching the tides come and go on a gorgeous day and a seagull came and sat on a flat rock. It was playing with something, on closer inspection it became clear it was a starfish. It had plucked a good size, innocent, starfish off the ocean floor. Now why would it do that? I had never seen a seagull play before, their lives usually consumed with pestering diners on the Seattle Waterfront and leaving their signature on your newly washed car.

Soon this particular seagull took the starfish into its mouth and just stood there for a few minutes. What was it doing?

A few minutes later the seagull started to choke back another leg of the starfish. What the what!?

Then it just stood there, a starfish half in its gullet. Was it trying to eat this poor thing? Now, I know from my childhood visits to the aquarium's touch tanks, that starfish are not soft, they are rigid creatures. How could this seagull be attempting this feat? Was it digesting it as it went? Was it like a snake that it could unhinge it's jaw? I was enthralled.

Sure enough a few minutes later it looked like it was choking back another section and pretty soon it had about half of the creature down.

This process repeated itself over the next 15 minutes or so. Sure enough, this seagull managed to ingest the whole damn thing. It was fascintating and disgusting all at the same time. It made me gag just to watch.

Then, as if nothing at all happened, the seagull pooped, and flew off, happily sated, I am sure.

Nature fascinates me!