Two weeks ago I wrote about the thousands of herring gulls converging on Grand Marais. I didn’t know where they came from or where they were going.

A local birder told me they believe that most of the herring gulls from the western end of Lake Superior take up residence in Grand Marais during the late fall to feed on the local delicacies provided by the commercial fishermen. Thousands of pounds of herring are cleaned daily and the cleanings are deposited on local farm fields.

This week, I accompanied the driver of one of loads to see what it is like when thousands of herring gulls descend on you looking for lunch. I think Alfred Hitchcock must have experienced something like this when he wrote “The Birds”.

The gulls recognize the truck so they are already dropping out of the sky like little dive bombers when you get to the drop site. It’s noisy and loud. They just keep coming until the sky if filled with birds for as far as you can see and then they quickly dig in.

Next the eagles arrive and the gulls move back to give the eagles their space. I suppose the eagles could just as easily dine on a herring gull as a herring. I followed along the ridge and found the eagle’s main roosting site. At that moment I saw more eagles in one spot than ever before in my life. Close to fifty eagles were sitting in the trees in a valley at the end of the ridge.

While I watched the gulls devour the fish heads, I thought that the farmers weren’t getting much benefit from all this fertilizer. Then I looked at my car. The fertilizer was still there only reprocessed. After taking pictures I went directly to the car wash. There wasn’t more than four square inches not covered with gull droppings.