Hovertrotting

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The hovertrot: a how-to guide for gulls

  1. angle into sea breeze; lift off lackadaisically
  2. hold wings outstretched without flapping
  3. skim across beach without gaining altitude
  4. periodically paddle ground with feet
  5. maintain trajectory/nonchalance for 100+ meters

Old Orchard Beach, Maine

As performed by a herring gull yesterday.

Don't call it a seagull!

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Don't call it a seagull!

In New England, winter is for gull-watching. I stood on Jodrey State Fish Pier in the fog and drizzle of a late Friday morning in January, inside a roiling cloud of gray and white birds. A stocky fisherman in orange foul-weather gear had just thrown a bucketful of...

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