Watching seagulls for waves

Haven’t you ever noticed that seagulls are often parked on the sand in front of pretty breakers?

It’s only a short step from there to the conclusion that to find good waves, you have to look where the seagulls are, and I’m going to take it.

Gulls, sandbanks and waves

Of course, it sounds a little absurd, but it isn’t: the waves break over a mound called a sandbank. The sandbank is the area of the beach that the sifter – the tractor that rakes the beach to collect garbage – has difficulty reaching, because the sand is too wet and the machine could get stuck.

This is the area of the beach that has not been sterilized by tractor sieving. Here, seagulls find organic life, mollusks and shellfish, which they feed on.

Moreover, the longest waves break on a break in the sandbar, at its transition to the baïne. Fish love this mixing zone. It’s easy to see why waves = fish = seagulls.

So, if the seagulls haven’t chosen the spot for the quality of its waves, at least they’ve decided to park in front of them, close to their food source.

Finding seagulls is also a sign of low human and canine density and, by inference, a good sign for surfers looking for quiet waves away from the crowds.

Let’s pay tribute to these inhabitants of an ecosystem that homo sapiens surveys and disturbs, with his tractors, electric bikes and Labradors.