Gulls are not the most beloved of birds, and in the city after they’ve gone through your trash creating a big mess, I’ve been known to curse them, too. But when you’re out the water with them (like I am as much as possible in my Boston schooner, the A Wake at Last), and you get to see them soaring over the waves, wings outstretched, you really start to build an appreciation for their own inherent glory. And unlike a lot of the seasonal birds that we all love to love (hey, we even named our Heart’s Delight cottages after some of them), gulls tough it out with us, summer and winter, through all weather, sometimes solitary, sometimes in groups, always dancing on the wind and playing in the waves. They’re tough, just like Newfoundlanders!
