Today my mother called me to say that our summer guests have arrived :) Larus and his wife have returned from winter migration to lay eggs and raise babies, and as usual they come to my grandmother's house where they sit on the lawn and beg for food and attention. We call the male Larus because that's the Latin name for the Herring Gull, Larus Argentatus, but the female doesn't really have a name. We just call her the female :) This is a picture of the pair from last year, eating scraps of dinner from a plate:
They are actually tame enough to eat from our hands! They are a little sceptical the first couple of days, but after that they will hang around every time food is brought outside. Larus has tried to land on the barbecue grill to get the hot dogs more than once, and he's even been inside the house a few times when we've left the door open :)
I can remember Larus from when I was little, I suspect he's even older than I am! He's been around for a long time, but it's only in the later years he has brought his mate with him to the house. The first year or two she was very shy, but now she's as tame as he is :) When their chicks are grown enough they usually follow their parents down to the house, but they have never become tame like them.
A few years ago we thought that Larus and his mate were about to get competition for the food, when a Great Black-backed Gull showed up and was almost as tame as they are. He took food from our hands and sat outside the house all the time, but unfortunately he chased Larus and his mate away...
We named him Ramses Larus Martinus, but he was only there for a year, the next summer he was around, but never came close again. We suspect he was sick and had a hard time finding food for himself. Thankfully he seems to have recovered, and has probably raised many babies of his own. I look forward to going home for the summer and seeing them all :)
