Where Have the Seagulls Gone?

The seagulls are gone.

I feel like I'm going a little crazy because no one I've talked to about this seems to have noticed.

Over ten years ago, when we first moved here, seagulls were one of the main birds I saw in the area. They were all over. Every parking lot had a small flock of seagulls hanging out, waiting for something tasty to fall on the ground. When we had picnics at parks, seagulls magically multiplied to land nearby and screech at us or wheel around above us in the sky. They were everywhere, their loud, raucous cries reminding me of my childhood in Northern Minnesota on the shores of Lake Superior, where herring gulls are ubiquitous.

The fact that I grew up around herring gulls might be why I noticed the seagulls here, like a comforting connection to where I came from. I couldn't quite make myself believe that the train horns were actually boat horns signaling the arrival of the massive freighters as they chugged into the harbor; but having seagulls around made me happy.

Seagulls and herring gulls are pretty much the same except that herring gulls live around fresh water and seagulls live around salt water. This was a fact drummed into me from early childhood. It seemed important to the adults that we knew we were surrounded by herring gulls, not seagulls. They certainly both sound and act the same.

But now there are no seagulls here--or, at least, very, very few. I see a single gull once in a while, but not nearly in the numbers that I used to. Instead, I see huge black crows, though they don't flock like gulls. I also see plenty of tiny starlings, which seem to have taken over parking lot duty. Did the crows and starlings chase out the seagulls? I've seen groups of starlings harass much larger birds, like the crows. Did they gang up on the gulls, too? Or did the gulls leave for some other reason?

I miss the seagulls. Apparently, no one else does, because no one else I've asked has noticed. Was I just noticing the seagulls because I have a connection with them, though they weren't actually as numerous as my perception led me to believe? The other explanation is that I'm just a little off my rocker. Could be both.