While I was out on my route last weekend, it struck me that my nest monitoring is a pilgrimage – each nest a destination, a shrine to mystery, to the genius and tenacity of the other beings we are often blind to.

These are the fleeting images I try to capture, the small sparks I desperately harbour to get me through the following five days of mental anaesthetization.

There’s a lot of nests to get through, so here we go…

Pyramid Nest

What luck – the chicks and parents were at the nest when I arrived. I was able to get conclusive proof that both the parents are banded gulls. Not only will I be able to verify if they both nest in the same spot next year, but perhaps even spot them during the non-breeding season.

This is the third year I’ve been harbouring an obsession with nesting gulls. For the previous two years, I was lucky enough to be managing without full-time work, and so was able to check up on the gulls at least twice a week.

Working full time, I’m at the mercy of weekends and holidays, so I only end up walking the entire route on Sundays. Why not Saturdays? Saturdays I volunteer at the Vancouver Avian Research Centre banding birds, and I’m barely exaggerating by saying it is the light that gets me through the week.

Yesterday it struck me that much of my recent frustration comes from being relegated to weekly visits of these birds. Monitoring these nests probably seems like a strange form of birding to many of you, and I guess you’re right. I’m not spotting any rarities or ending the day with a massive list on eBird… despite that, having the opportunity to watch these “seagulls” live their daily lives – lives as vivid, meaningful, and real as ours – there is something profound and numinous in it that I don’t find anywhere else.

Lots to get through, let’s begin…

Culinary Nest

At approximately three weeks old, the chicks at Culinary Nest are the oldest chicks we’re watching. Take a peek at the photo from last week and note how much they’ve changed.

Sunday’s gull nest survey happened to fall on June 30^th, which is my birthday – and I was gifted with many new chicks that have hatched since last weekend’s visit. There’s a lot to get through, so I’ll try and keep the writing compact and to the point.

Cambie Nest

Until the eggs hatch, there is always a bird brooding on the nest. So, seeing the nest unoccupied and an adult resting nearby I knew that there had to be chicks. While the chick is quite visible in this photo, from my vantage point I could only see an empty nest and I was worried.

You know Daði Freyr? No? Then find out. This guy’s a charmer.