Seaside brunch for two

This gull was attempting, with little success, to break the shell of a still-squirming lobster: 

Then it began squawking (what looked and sounded like  a pair bonding call), attracting the attention of another gull. They bobbed their heads and squeaked at each other (as in the linked video), and then the newly arrived one began to attack the lobster:  

 And finally cracked the shell!

Seaside

Merganser

Harbor seal

Green anemone

The ages of Western Gull
From back to front: juvenile, second year, adult

Crab shell

Lined shore crab 

An osprey having brunch:

Mirror test fail

Magpies are the only birds that recognize themselves in mirrors. As evident from the fact that these gulls were squawking at and trying to attack their reflections, they don't pass the test. 

Seaside birds

Gull shaking a paper bag

Until it acquired its prey... a scone!

Extractive foraging is the process of extricating food from a container, e.g. nuts from their shells. It is seen in primates, corvids, and octopi, and is a hallmark of intelligence. Gulls are fairly good at it too, and evidently regard food packaging as just another type of "shell."

Egret with a big Sculpin

"Hey, can I have some of that?"

A chase, which I didn't see how it resolved, over the tidal rocks

Grebes afloat like fuzzy boats

Campus birds

Recently, many ravens have been circling over the building where I attend most of my classes, and calling from high perches.

Last spring, some ravens were hanging out near the dining halls and would often share students' food, though I haven't encountered them since.

Just like grad students, birds never pass up free food.

Even if it's currently on someone else's plate. The owner of this meal had to keep shooing the cowbirds away:

Cowbirds are brood parasites, and hence they have come up in several lectures and discussions I've attended about issues of language innateness and "nature vs. nurture." (The academics who mentioned these birds weren't aware, I found, that real live ones could be seen right on campus.) The term "parasite," incidentally, comes from a Greek word meaning "one who eats at another's table" or "one who plays the flatterer and buffoon, with a view to getting invited to dinner." 

Floundering gull

A western gull flew in with some sort of flounder or flatfish, which I suspect it stole from a diving bird. Then it had some difficulty actually consuming its prey:

Darn,  dropped it...

How do I eat this thing?

Aaaaaaaahhhhhhh

Note the featureless pale "underside" of the body

And the two eyes on the "top side"

Going...

Going....

Not quite...

Almost...

Gone! 

This isn't even the most awkward prey gulls eat.