I love the idea of living amongst pretty colours and beautiful flowers, but I envy this Egret’s ability to deal efficiently with the sting of the more dangerous creatures – and, even more, I crave the bird’s ability to turn it into nourishment.
The Cape Gull, also known as the Kelp Gull, is an awesome scavenger and hunter gatherer. It will take crabs out of the receding tide, dig mussels off rocks, and excavate bones from your rubbish bin if you are not careful. Mussels and crabs are flown high into the sky and then dropped: making the fleshy insides accessible for consumption, and gull fights inevitable. Keeping your stash to yourself is a great skill if you are a gull. The chips and cracks on the bill is a testimony to these adventures, and like a chipped nail on your hand, mostly will keep on regenerating.
Hannelie de Klerk 