The construction drags on, seemingly endlessly, on both the Granville Street and Cambie Bridges. As June draws near, I’m increasingly disheartened knowing I may be unable to observe some of the most visible gull nests. If I’m lucky, the work will be done before mid-June. Or perhaps this is an obstacle that will force me to look elsewhere and find new nests.

As spring fades in, I’ve become obsessed with watching the Bonaparte’s Gulls (Chroicocephalus philadelphia) migrating through on their way north. One of the smallest gulls in North America, they still hold many secrets. They breed in the boreal forests and are the only gull that regularily nests in trees.

Little is known about their breeding biology as they nest in remote locations and in small colonies, and the only serious study was done in 1934 by A.D. Twomey: Breeding habits of Bonaparte’s Gull. Remarkably, it’s a mere seven pages long (with one page of photos)… a humbling reminder of how utterly ignorant we are of most of the beings we share this planet with.

We’ve survived through winter only to be terrorized by spring. The leaky boat we’re all trapped on is maintained by rabid, greedy men who only know how to use a drill.

Snow fell last weekend – temperatures have remained near zero since and much still remains. Ponds are frozen over, and I contemplate what daily life must be like for birds and animals that cannot retreat into warm, lit boxes like ourselves.