Saturday, June 15, 2024

Meeting seagulls in desolate places

Seeking shelter from the rain
Innisfil, ON
June 2024
This photo originally shared on Instagram

It’s the final stop on a long drive before we (finally) get home, and the first few flecks of spitting rain are streaking across the windshield as we pull into a highway rest stop and park near the edge of the largely empty lot.

Angry seagulls are walking between the freshly painted yellow lines, looking for castoffs from the nearby Starbucks drive-through. I feel more than a little sorry for them as the rain intensifies, and hope they find shelter from the weather before too long.

Since Lilly loves seagulls, I get it into my head that I should take a picture of them while Debbie calls the fam - 1,700 kilometres behind us - via FaceTime. So before I can explain my ridiculous plan to my ever understanding wife, I’m grabbing the camera out of the back for the most insane photo shoot I’ve had in a while.

I follow a few gulls as they walk between the drops, then crank up action photography mode as they run into the wind and take off. I think I take no more than a half dozen frames before I snag this one and decide I’m done. The skies are really opening up, and I’d rather not be cold soaking my equipment for a silly bird pic.

I return to the relative peace of the car and show Lilly the shot on my camera’s screen. She likes it. Mission accomplished. Nothing else matters.

Technology makes weird moments like this possible. But crazy birds flying aerobatics in a rain-soaked OnRoute parking lot make said technology come alive.

Those seagulls? Our next generation is learning early on how much these often ignored birds seem to matter in our family’s story. I can’t explain any of it. I’m just thankful that we get to tell - and share - that story with her, birds and all.

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