A dropped squirrel

A nice relaxing trip to Monterey. Staying within walking distance of Lovers Point, an outcrop of rock butted between the ocean and a lawn manicured park. With great lines of sight out to Monterey Bay you can't not see wildlife: sea-otters, cormorants, whales, it's got it all. Its also become famous for the habituated ground squirrels who live in the maze of cracks built by the overlapping boulders of the point. So comfortable they'll approach anyone who walks through. Standing on tiny haunches proffering tiny hands and batting tiny eyelashes in the hopes of receiving a snack. Their performance is met by squeals of "Look at the baby squirrels!" and "They do tricks huh?". Needless to say they're well fed. Opportunistic seagulls hang about too, receiving much less attention.

I passed through this gauntlet of cuteness to stare out to the ocean and find real wildlife. A split of squawking pulled my attention. A flight of gulls mobbing and chasing another. Why? The lead gull had picked up a ground squirrel in its beak and was hauling it up in the air! The gull flew out over the rocky wall separating the outcrop from the ocean and dropped the squirrel. A sharp pang of pain best expressed by "Nooo!" ran through me. He fell 20ft through the air and onto the rocks below. The mob of gulls landed nearby to watch for activity. No sign of the ground squirrel. I was shook. Guess the squirrels performance worked on me after all.