For Sea Gulls, Sand Treats Only

Robby and I came out of a little ice cream store on Pass-a-Grille Beach, Florida.  The following sign met our eyes and we didn’t have to be warned twice:

The graphic depiction of a sea gull swooping out of the blue to devour an ice cream cone was all too familiar. I’ve seen those gulls before.

My grandchildren clamor for a retelling of my Chincoteague Beach story. I’ve even had a family call while at dinner. Then, on speaker phone, as we had dessert, I had to tell once more about the awful day a sea gull got my sandwich. And not just an old peanut butter sandwich.

I had taken my French exchange student for a day at the beach. I was luxuriating in traveling light. There was no picnic basket. There were no snacks.  We stopped at a deli, each ordering a huge delicious sandwich, dripping with cheese and condiments, custom made. Starving after our trip from the Peninsula, we walked out on the beach and spread our blanket on the sand.

How charming to see that we were encircled by seagulls, circling and crying in the wind!

As I went to take the first scrumptious bite, it dawned on me what those seagulls were shrieking to each other. They were saying: “Beat you to that lady’s sandwich!”

Huge wings swooped down. A fierce beak grabbed my sandwich and the pack of gulls was off and away.

The entire sandwich was gone.

The children like to hear how Yannick gave me half of her sandwich and life went on.

The moral of the story is never to share food with seagulls. Someone like me may lose her sandwich, once the sea gulls understand what ice cream cones and deli sandwiches are all about.

If you must make treats for sea gulls, make them out of sand like this little sand baker on Buckroe Beach!