What’s in a name?
You’ll be
chastised by birders if you call it a seagull. To them, it’s a gull!
There are many, many species of gulls around the world: Western Gull, California
Gull, Laughing Gull…but apparently no Sea Gull. Our Southern Oregon
gulls could be any of several species. They are known locally as French Fry
Gulls and Landfill Gulls, regardless of species. I call them seagulls. I know.
Colloquial is a formidable adversary to the technical.
The bird in today’s
picture is probably a Herring Gull (I drew it many years ago for another picture
and I forgot what species I used for reference). It is perched on a piling
of a run-down dock somewhere in the West Indies.
The airplane in
the background is also not a seagull—or a gull. It is the Arado AR 196,
a float plane developed for the German military and put into service in 1936.
The American Navy also had float planes, and one of them was called the Seagull.
It was a bi-plane with one float. In the 1920s the British developed their
own Seagull. It was a flying boat, as its fuselage was shaped like a boat
hull, so it didn’t need outboard floats. I liked the AR196 better. And
the point of the painting was the float plane at the broken down dock. I wanted
a cool, vintage-looking plane. The seagull really had nothing to do with it.
It just happened to be sitting there.
The AR 196 was
vastly superior to the American Seagull in all respects, and served throughout
WWII. It had a powerful BMW radial engine, two machine guns (one in back for
tailgaters), two 20mm cannons, and mounts for two bombs. Quite impressive
armament for a reconnaissance plane!
I won’t need
all that weaponry. I’ll mostly be using it to get to and from Meu Barco.
My friend in high school had a seagull. He rescued it from entanglement in
fishing line, and kept it in his backyard, unrestrained, where it decided
to live even after it was able to fly again. Leonard named it Flipper. Leonard
wanted a dolphin.
© 2023 Scott Wright
