Living by the beach, seagulls are everywhere. Up in the sky riding the updrafts, or dropping sea-shells from great heights onto the sand to smash them open, or squabbling with each other over territory.
There I was sitting at one end of a park bench (over-looking the beach): there was tarapunga, the red-billed gull, sitting at the other end (over-looking me).
The attraction? My paper wrapping of fish & chips.
My lone companion kept vigil. No other birds allowed! Well – not until this one had been feed, then it was too busy eating to chase the others off!
Seagull numbers increased after human settlement. Mainly due to offal & sewage discharges straight into the sea. These discharges reduced from 1970. So the seagull population has dropped – through you’d never know it on Waikanae Beach!
It’s summer. The beach teems with life. And tarapunga will take every opportunity it is given!
Information from the booklet that comes with the game. In Cloak of Protection, the main predators of tarapunga, the red-billed gull, are ferret + cat.