I think that most everyone here knows that I work as a Merchant Marine officer, on tankers. Seagulls nest on the dock pilings that we tie our ship up to. We Usually try to discourage them early in the season, by clearing the nests before they are fully built, but one pair managed to get one built and 'moved in', and layed some eggs... The eggs were RIGHT in the way of where we run mooring wires. As careful as we were all spring, the nest didn't fair too well.

One egg survived, despite the nest being flipped over several times. Knowing that the odds were he wouldn't make it the next time we let out wires go, I climbed down the ship side with a Milk crate and relocated the baby gull to another piling. It was risky- Not only was I dangling over the side of the ship, but I was also under constant attack by not only BOTH parents, but a few dozen other gulls that took up arms to defend from the perceived 'attack'. I relocated him to another unused piling, where he'll be safe. His parents were a bit upset with me, But they found him there, and are keeping an eye on him. We named him 'Flip' in honor of the multiple times he survived his nest being 'flipped'....



This guy had some HUGE feet


-Andrew

What a cute little guy. All the filpping will only make him stonger. If I see a Gull doing flips over my water, I'll know who it is.

You are the very best of eggs! Milk crate! ha! "You done good!"

He's adorable. I love Gulls. They have such attitude & I love their sleek look. Flip is way too cute. Thanks so much for the rescue.

Great pics. Hope to see more.