BostInno readers, join me for a journey back in time.
Last summer, one major thing that had our attention was, let's say, unusual for a news outlet that covers startups and the tech industry. Although we of course covered all the moves and trends taking place in the innovation community (and still do), these hard-nosed journalists also spent our time chronicling another journey: the life of a seagull chick.
Gulliver, as you voted to christen him, was born exactly one year ago today. To celebrate, I thought it might be fun to compile excerpts from the Beat where we showed his progress—from walking around the ledge, occasionally extending a stubby wing, to flying away in earnest—in words, photos and gifs. A flight down memory lane, if you will.
Here we go...
May 1, 2019: I first documented in the Beat that Gulliver's parents were building an honest-to-goodness nest on the roof just below my window at Downtown Crossing. I had been watching them bring in twigs and leaves, scream at all other seagulls who dare approach and bicker like a married couple.
At this point, I asked Beat readers if they had any interest in following along with the couple, and y'all responded in droves. Thus began our avian adventure.
May 3, 2019: I stayed in the office just past sunset, since I had evening dinner plans nearby. That meant I got to see our two protagonists settling down for the night, beaks tucked into feathers.
May 10, 2019: We had the opportunity to wish a very happy early Mother’s Day to the expecting seagulls. No actual eggs had been laid yet, but the nest had grown significantly in size to include more sticks and dirt, long feathers and other items.
Here’s a look at our heroine, holding a stick in her beak.
May 16, 2019: Sometime between the afternoon of May 15 and the morning of May 16, Mama Seagull laid two gray, speckled eggs in the nest she and her partner had been so carefully building. I snuck a quick photo in the few minutes she wasn't brooding. Eggs are circled for convenience.
At that point, we thought that the eggs would take about three weeks to hatch, based on my semi-scientific seagull research. Little did we know we'd be on the edges of our seats for nearly a month.
May 31, 2019: With no chicks in sight, I took a short video of one of our parents settling down to brood. Seagull parents actually co-brood, so they trade off—this was taken right after the other parent stood up for a break.
June 12, 2019: One year ago to the day, Gulliver was born. (He didn't have a name at the time; BostInno readers would vote for the name "Gulliver" two days later, on the 14th.)
Here's what I wrote at the time: "This is not a drill: THERE IS A SEAGULL CHICK! See that fluffy little gray lump in the middle of the nest? That’s our child—the product of all the work you’ve been watching with me over the last several weeks."
You'll notice there were originally three eggs. At this point, there was no longer any evidence of the other two, which led me to believe they were swooped up by some predator. These things happen. Nature is, after all, lawless.
June 21, 2019: Seagull chicks, it turned out, grow up fast. By this point, Gulliver had begun taking supervised walks around the ledge, preening himself and occasionally doing this silly jump-and-flap-his-stubby-wings thing that I imagined was training for flying.
Here he is on a nice stroll.
July 3, 2019: Big news: Although Gulliver couldn't fly yet, he was beginning to make moves toward doing so.
Here he is extending a stubby wing.
July 26, 2019: By this point, word of the BostInno seagull had spread far and wide. At an event, a reader jokingly referred to Sri and I as "the seagull ladies," an honorific we were happy to accept.
Gulliver began taking test flights around that time. Really, they were more like wing-assisted hops onto the ledge, where he could annoy his parents—you can see one in action here.
Aug. 19, 2019: It took me quite a while to gather footage for an avian update. I suppose that once you can fly, even if you're really new to it, there's not much point in sticking around the ledge of an office building. (Despite that fact that it delights a newsroom and thousands of readers.)
Luckily, I had the chance to see Gulliver fly one time before wrapping up the seagull updates. Here he is in all his majesty.
