Karma = Black-headed Gull in Queens NY

Call it whatever you want. Me, I believe in consequences for one's actions or in-actions, so when I found a Black-headed Gull on March 1st, at Fort Tilden in Queens NY, I chalked it up to Karma for the kindness I had shown an injured Harbor Seal observed at Jacob Riis Park, a location also in Queens.

If you follow me on twitter, you might have caught that I tweeted an SOS regarding an injured Harbor Seal that was observed the day before, February 28th, at Jacob Riis Park. It was late afternoon but I did some research in the field and found information for Riverhead Foundation an organization dedicated to rescuing, rehabbing, researching and educating of marine life.  They run a 24 hour operation and I was able to get someone on the phone sometime around 5:30 p.m. After sending them photos and having a couple of conversations, they decided that they would wait until the next day to see if the Seal needed help. I assumed they knew what they were doing but being naive in not knowing how badly this Seal was hurt, I was of course quite worried. I volunteered to check up on the Seal the next day, which meant putting off other birding plans. Who wouldn't? There was no way I could not have checked back in to see how the Seal had fared the night.



The morning of March 1st, saw me back at Riis Park. The Seal had made it through the night and its injuries did not seem so bad after taking a look. Again, I was engaged in exchanging e-mails, photos and even video with the Riverhead Foundation. In the end, (making a long story short) the Seal made its way back into the water and I watched it swimming quite comfortably. Leaving Riis Park, I decided that since I was near Fort Tilden, I would pop in and bird the oceanside. Would you know that while I was there, a Black-headed Gull flew in off the ocean and dropped onto the beach right in front of me.

Yeah, so it is not an Ivory Gull but what the heck, I was quite happy with a Black-headed Gull. That my dear readers, I am taking to be Karma -- I was not expecting anything in return for my earlier actions. If I had not returned to checkup on an injured Harbor Seal, I would not have been at Fort Tilden and thus not seen a BHGU, which happened to be the 1st one of the year for me and very possibly the only one I might connect with since they are uncommon to rare in the area. That's my story and I am sticking to it!

Tags: Riis Park, Harbor Seal, Black-headed Gull, Fort Tilden, Queens, New York