*𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒓-𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚

People who live in coastal areas are most likely familiar with seagulls. They’re brash, can be aggressive, and are considered to be relatively intelligent when it comes to scavenging food. I live inland, a couple of hours away from the ocean, in a rural area with lots of wetlands and generally soggy conditions most of the year. Once or twice a year or so, a large flock of seagulls will turn up in a nearby soccer field or pasture and hang out for a day or so. I’ve always thought they come inland like that when a big storm blows up out on the ocean. Sometimes a few stragglers will stay behind and wander around town.

My brother visited here years ago and pointed out that the seagulls meandering around the grocery store parking lot were twice the size of any he’d seen before. That’s probably because we have a McDonald’s across the street from the grocery store. I did an online search and found that, in between time spent attacking people in various situations, seagulls really, really like to go to McDonald’s. Fun fact – so do crows.

Crows are intelligent to an extent way beyond simply finding food. We have a lot of crows around here, and these locals have their territories firmly staked out. One of their favorite places is the afore-mentioned McDonald’s. They walk the perimeter of the parking lot and put sentries by the garbage bins to keep away the vermin. Their manner is very matter of fact, exuding a profound sense of entitlement and community position. Not only do these crows not fly away from an approaching car, they give drivers the stink eye as they calmly walk to the curb. Somehow they never get run over.

I, too, like McDonald’s. While waiting in the drive-through, I noticed several seagulls perched in a tree at a corner of the parking lot. This caught my attention; I had never seen a seagull perched in a tree. On top of light posts, sure, but not in trees. Then I noticed about the same number of crows patrolling the area under the tree. One of the seagulls dropped out of the tree and landed off to the side of the crow patrol. I expected a flurry of battle over the stray French fry. The lone seagull took what looked like a hesitant step toward the crows while its colleagues watched intently from the tree.

All of the crows stopped moving for a second and turned to look at the seagull. That’s all they did. I expected the seagull to challenge them, but after a few moments it flapped back up into the tree. I had expected at the least a lot of noisy caws and shrieks, but all the birds were quiet. The seagulls sat in the tree and watched the crows dining below them, which was notably unusual seagull behavior. Apparently the crows’ look had been the equivalent of The Rock cracking his knuckles, something that gets one’s attention and gives the advice to stand down.

I haven’t noticed any other seagulls at McDonald’s since then.

• A flock of crows is called a “murder”, the term dating back to medieval times. Being efficient, opportunistic scavengers, crows were common to battlefields and gallows, and for centuries were thought to be a harbinger of death.