Beautiful lunch time visitor

Silver Gull, Taronga Zoo, Sydney

Silver Gulls make excellent photographic studies. This is because they are generally quite unafraid of people, especially at the beach, in picnic areas or open air restaurants. On our visit to Taronga Zoo in Sydney last year this individual decided it was worth hanging around where we were sitting in the hope of a few morsels to eat. It was sadly disappointed because we only sat at the table for a few minutes while we had a drink break.

Birds at the Sydney Fish Markets

Silver Gull, Sydney Fish Markets

Silver Gull, Sydney Fish Markets

Australians a quite used to having Silver Gulls watching them as they eat picnic lunches, especially if any seafood is on the menu. While we were eating our lunch in the picnic area on the wharf at the Sydney Fish Markets, several Silver Gulls kept a close eye on our food, especially the individual shown in the photo above.

He went hungry.

At least we didn’t feed him anything. Others in the vast crowd may have been more compassionate and shared their lunch.

A very bold White Ibis patrolled the footpath between the rows of tables where hundreds of people were eating. This species has become a pest in many picnic areas. They are not afraid of people and frequently hop on to picnic tables and grab food off your plate. Cheeky blighters.

Some people might think this behaviour as cute, or amusing. For a little child it can be very intimidating and downright frightening.

More docile were several hopeful Australian Pelicans cruising near the wharf.

Silver Gull, Sydney Fish Markets

Silver Gull, Sydney Fish Markets