Last night, under a wonderful sky, a swallow-tailed gull left its colony to feed. The Southern Cross was several degrees above the horizon, while Orion began to set on the other side. The constellations were perfectly clear, with no moon and with Jupiter as the brightest object of all.
The swallow-tailed gull flew away from Tower Island, the Bird Island. It was looking for squid, but eventually found a fish at the surface, and decided it was good enough to eat. Perhaps it was using the phosphorescence created when these creatures, that come up from the deep ocean at night, move through the water. It detected the fish thanks to its large eyes with many night vision elements (rods).
Around dawn it returned to the nest, to find its cute and very hungry little chick. It waited for some time before regurgitating the contents of its crop for its young, as it had to digest the food into small enough pieces for the chick to swallow. But the baby was desperately kweeking, so the parent tried to feed the young with this too large fish. The chick couldn't take it, the fish was almost half the baby's own size, it was an impossible task. Hence the parent reswallowed the fish. Minutes after, it tried again, and then again.
The baby got some satisfaction anyway from the juices that came out of the parent's throat together with the fish, but the fish was still too big. It rained, the sun came out, and I had to leave parent and chick behind. I am sure they finally accomplished the labor.
As we leave Tower's caldera, I see a swallow-tailed gull flying next to us, going out to sea to look for food.
Venus is at its best and pretty soon the other stars and planets will be visible again. A parent has left the island, a chick is waiting, and life continues its serene course.
