- Thread starter Peter & Alex
- Start date
Sea Gulls?
Because...
they taste like ... Chicken.
jeje jeje jeje
But seriously, I hadn't noticed but now that you mention it - you are of course right.
Maybe someone will have a serious answer to enlighten us both.
Gregg
P.S. - Greetings from Atlantic Canada.
they taste like ... Chicken.
jeje jeje jeje
But seriously, I hadn't noticed but now that you mention it - you are of course right.
Maybe someone will have a serious answer to enlighten us both.
Gregg
P.S. - Greetings from Atlantic Canada.
You're quite right! I've not seen any of the usual shorebirds around the coast.
Heard a story from a guide at the crystal caves in Cabarete - Now, I do not know if this is true or not but he said that in the 60's, DDT (quite a bad poison) became available on the market to use for killing pests in fruit trees and vegetable gardens and where-ever. Apparently, or so the story goes, folks over here started using this stuff quite indiscriminately and the bird population ate it and simply died off.
Around where we are (farmland), there are some birds but they are by no means numerous.
Heard a story from a guide at the crystal caves in Cabarete - Now, I do not know if this is true or not but he said that in the 60's, DDT (quite a bad poison) became available on the market to use for killing pests in fruit trees and vegetable gardens and where-ever. Apparently, or so the story goes, folks over here started using this stuff quite indiscriminately and the bird population ate it and simply died off.
Around where we are (farmland), there are some birds but they are by no means numerous.
There are sea gulls
But not too many.
As for DDT. MY GOD!, the National Service to Eliminate Malaria used to spray everyone's house with 75% pure DDT solutions, tell you NOT to wash the house down until the NEXT DAY!! You either moved out or slept in that stuff.
Then everyone washed their houses and the runoff went in to the rivers and into the sea.
God's Honest Truth...
HB
But not too many.
As for DDT. MY GOD!, the National Service to Eliminate Malaria used to spray everyone's house with 75% pure DDT solutions, tell you NOT to wash the house down until the NEXT DAY!! You either moved out or slept in that stuff.
Then everyone washed their houses and the runoff went in to the rivers and into the sea.
God's Honest Truth...
HB
We used a lot of that stuff in South Africa too but we never washed our houses with it - Mostly used in the fields and I don't remember correctly how, but diluted like crazy. Good God! Hillbilly, that explains a lot 
Who was the company who made this stuff anyway? And it looks like the bird population could have died off massively because of this. Wow - I have not seen one seagull in Cabarete and we're on the beach quite frequently..
Who was the company who made this stuff anyway? And it looks like the bird population could have died off massively because of this. Wow - I have not seen one seagull in Cabarete and we're on the beach quite frequently..
Wot No Gulls?
We did the whale watching bit in Samana for a few days recently, plus visits to lots of remote beaches for a looksee, but alas no seagulls and if I recall through the rum haze, no other shore birds either?
In other parts of the world they thrive, especially around garbage dumps, yet here they don't seem to exist? (That's the gulls and not the garbage)!
Perhaps it was the DDT thing that did it but you'd think they'd be replaced by others cruising the skies around the Caribbean and dropping in?
There are certainly no sightings of huge schools of small sardine type fish that I know of in these waters, perhaps that's a factor?
It would be nice to have that incessant sea gull noise, the guano on your shoulder and the seaside feel on the beach in Cabarete - or would it?
We did the whale watching bit in Samana for a few days recently, plus visits to lots of remote beaches for a looksee, but alas no seagulls and if I recall through the rum haze, no other shore birds either?
In other parts of the world they thrive, especially around garbage dumps, yet here they don't seem to exist? (That's the gulls and not the garbage)!
Perhaps it was the DDT thing that did it but you'd think they'd be replaced by others cruising the skies around the Caribbean and dropping in?
There are certainly no sightings of huge schools of small sardine type fish that I know of in these waters, perhaps that's a factor?
It would be nice to have that incessant sea gull noise, the guano on your shoulder and the seaside feel on the beach in Cabarete - or would it?
Re: Wot No Gulls?
Of course it would. Went to the beach this morning, and felt that there certainly was something missing! Somehow the hoarse seagull cries and the little shorebirds hopping around the waves seemed very very absent.
Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this absence of seashore birds?
Peter & Alex said:
Of course it would. Went to the beach this morning, and felt that there certainly was something missing! Somehow the hoarse seagull cries and the little shorebirds hopping around the waves seemed very very absent.
Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain this absence of seashore birds?
Seagulls
They are all up here in the Great Lakes and at Fireguys in Atlantic Canada, we are trying our best to send them back to the DR.
If they ain't squackin they are shittin.
They are all up here in the Great Lakes and at Fireguys in Atlantic Canada, we are trying our best to send them back to the DR.
If they ain't squackin they are shittin.
We lived in Sarasota Florida for 12 years and were the evacuation point for the Seagull Sanctuary in case of a hurricane - Our pool and lanai area was deemed to be big enough and far enough away from threatened areas.
Oh My God! It tooks us about 2 months to get everything cleaned up after a serious hurricane threat. I love and hate these birds...!
I'm *NOT* volunteering for an importing effort :classic:
Oh My God! It tooks us about 2 months to get everything cleaned up after a serious hurricane threat. I love and hate these birds...!
I'm *NOT* volunteering for an importing effort :classic:
An Answer?
Still trying to find out why there are no seagulls or other seabirds here?
Had an answer from some birders (twitchers) in SD who blame the warm waters, less plankton, less fish and so on up the food chain???
We've been in places where the water is a lot warmer than here yet there were seabirds?
Perhaps they really do taste like chicken!
Still trying to find out why there are no seagulls or other seabirds here?
Had an answer from some birders (twitchers) in SD who blame the warm waters, less plankton, less fish and so on up the food chain???
We've been in places where the water is a lot warmer than here yet there were seabirds?
Perhaps they really do taste like chicken!
Dominicans are a diligent lot regarding easy food. Catching seagulls is difficult, but removing their eggs isn't! Perhaps DDT contributed too. Canadian Bob.
seagulls
I like to know firstly why my original reply to this was deleted as it contained no foul language or insulting behavior?
I recently spoke to one of the top bird experts in the country. He agreed with me and stated that the reason there are no seagulls in the DR is because of habitat. Cool waters produce large shouls of easily accessable fish. The conditions are not the same here.
There are actually native seagulls found here but the majority are migratory. The DDT story is simply a rumour and not true. There have never been large amounts of seagulls here. Did the original chronicles of Columbus mention seagulls. Don't think so
I like to know firstly why my original reply to this was deleted as it contained no foul language or insulting behavior?
I recently spoke to one of the top bird experts in the country. He agreed with me and stated that the reason there are no seagulls in the DR is because of habitat. Cool waters produce large shouls of easily accessable fish. The conditions are not the same here.
There are actually native seagulls found here but the majority are migratory. The DDT story is simply a rumour and not true. There have never been large amounts of seagulls here. Did the original chronicles of Columbus mention seagulls. Don't think so
Don't remember seagulls, but when I was growing up in the campo I remember huge numbers of herons (garzas) that would gather whenever there was a tractor preparing land for planting, for instance. I still have a faint memory of a place I saw when I was little, where these herons congregated to sleep and it was just blanketed with them. I mean thousands of them. It's one of those visuals you never forget...
See them at La Matica Boca Chica
Certain months of the year, you'll find thousands of them, all on La Matica, the little island in Boca Chica. They paint part if the island white, mostly on the west side with their doo doo.
Certain months of the year, you'll find thousands of them, all on La Matica, the little island in Boca Chica. They paint part if the island white, mostly on the west side with their doo doo.
Proof?
Hi Jim,
Thanx for the info. Have you got a picture to prove it?
Funnily enough we thought we saw one lone gull winging its way along Cabarete beach the other day, but with our old eyes, who knows - could have been a dwarf kiteboarder?
Peter & Alex
Hi Jim,
Thanx for the info. Have you got a picture to prove it?
Funnily enough we thought we saw one lone gull winging its way along Cabarete beach the other day, but with our old eyes, who knows - could have been a dwarf kiteboarder?
Peter & Alex