Next message: (no name): "Re: T&T: RE: Microwave question"
Snip:"Hawaii-- the marine food chain is very short in that part of the
Pacific (which I learned in Oceanography 101 at the U of H is why the
water in Hawaii is so blue and clear). You don't get the huge volumes
of seaweed and plankton and other little critters that result in all
sorts of yummy dead stuff on the beaches."
To quote: there are suggested two main reasons there are no gulls in
Hawaii. First, Hawaii is a fairly isolated group of islands. Second,
judging from range maps, gulls generally aren't found very far from
large land masses. It appears that gulls are not predisposed to long
distance movements over water, like terns would be. The islands where
gulls
are found generally tend to be fairly close to the mainland or
"connected"
by other islands in a chain (such as the Aleutians). There appear to be
records of a few species of gulls making appearances in Hawaii, but
these
are probably birds that have been blown that way by storms.
In recent decades it has become abundant, probably due to the amount of
food available at garbage dumps, and has extended its range southward
along the Atlantic Coast, often to the detriment of colonial birds such
as terns and Laughing Gulls. The Herring Gull's distribution in northern
latitudes is directly related to the distribution of man. We create most
of the food they eat with our waste. They survive, rather like
cockroaches (and man) because they are very adaptable and totally
unselective about what they eat. Nature is a question of "balance" and
we have tipped the scales in favour of seagulls, specifically the
Herring Gull. Yes, nature is raw in tooth and claw, but left alone it
does tend towards balance.
Ron Barr
Lady Brookhaven Hatteras LRC 42
Presently lying New Bern, NC
KB1LFX
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