Cement Seagulls

In Southern California you expect to see a flock of seagulls at the shoreline, but it always puzzles me to find a group of gulls hours inland on the asphalt parking lot of a discount store at sunrise.  It puts a definite twist on the early bird special.

About a mile down the road from us is a small tree lined street that boarded the water treatment plant.  My husband and I would frequently stop the car alongside the shrubs until my mind-body was ready to go further down the hill on our way to the office.  For us, it was a small piece of nature among an otherwise, over-developed Southern California community.  It was not unexpected to see rabbits and scrub jays forage by the greenbelt, but on this summer (before a major construction project would forever alter the unknown preserve) we would take great delight in seeing a small plover raise her off spring.

Why would a sea creature come into the dirty city?  Was it some kind of purgatory penalty?  Was the Inland Empire where birds were sentenced to do hard time?  And what about those fast-food-sparrows who live and breed at the drive-through?  Who would make that choice?

I have seen Nature provide for all of her creatures.  The nectar for the bees, the flora for the bunnies, even the food chain seems to exist in harmony with the ecosystem.  So why then do some of us find ourselves on the pavement in a panic?  Perhaps when I solve that one for mySelf, I will understand the cement seagulls.