? I used to have a bad impression of seagulls. Mostly because Gorky's masterpiece Haiyan has been memorized by heart since childhood.
? "In the boundless sea, the wind is rolling with dark clouds. Between the dark clouds and the sea, Haiyan flies proudly like black lightning.
......
Seagulls groaned before the storm came-groaned, and they flew around the sea, trying to hide their fear of the storm in the depths of the sea. "
It turns out that it is a bird that is afraid of death.
? The most common bird in the city where I live is the seagull. This kind of bird is fat and big, weighing about a catty. It is not afraid of people, almost domesticated. The city is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and all beaches, fishing ports, docks, bathing beaches and seaside parks are their gathering places. Its voice is monotonous and strange, whoa, whoa! Eternal two monosyllables, without intonation and flatness, not to mention the swaying of other birds, sound like the dry crying of a crying baby or a wild cat. Even if you often see it, you can't have a soft spot.
Until recently, when I came to the seaside, what I saw and heard changed me.
The epidemic improved that day and the house was closed for a long time. I am eager to go to the seaside to breathe fresh air and see the sea. Spring comes to the peninsula, the waves are warm and the sea is blue. Seaweed has been breeding on the reef for a winter, and it is still green after low tide. The dense oysters and sea rainbow secretly filled the cracks in the stone, and a large group of excited seagulls screamed and flew up and down. I am in a good mood for this. What I saw next shocked me even more.
? Two women, one old and one young, were carrying heavy bags on their shoulders. Approaching the beach, along the coastline connected by pebbles and seawater, walking and shouting, waving to the distant sea. Lo-lo-lo-lo, lo-lo-lo, with the crisp and bright cries of one low and one high alternately, a miracle happened. Their shouts were answered thousands of times, wow-wow-wow, and then they waved. On the sea in front of them, thousands of seagulls sang happily and roared at them from far to near. Looking around, at least thousands of meters away, flocks of seagulls also received the news, flapping their wings at full speed and flying here, as if afraid of being late for a minute and a second and not being able to grab their own red envelopes. Thousands of seagulls rushed over and covered half the sky.
? Seagulls relay in the air as young people and old people throw the food in their bags into the sky again and again. When food blocks are at the apex of a parabola, they are quick-eyed and quick-mouthed. They seem to keep taking off at high speed, and their sharp long mouths take off accurately. Then the next batch of seagulls followed, one after another, without interruption. There are also some seagulls waiting in the water on the shore, fighting for the fallen food. As food falls one by one, they dance ballet on the water, constantly stirring up white waves, like jade splashed by flying beads. I think maybe they think their flying skills are not as good as others, or they are lazy? Maybe I think it's easier to succeed in hunting this way.
? I was shocked by the sight I had never seen before and was even more attracted. Get close to young people and old people, ask their permission, and then grab food from the bag and throw it into the air. I found that these delicacies turned out to be very fine coarse grain cakes. After the dishes were scattered, the excitement lasted less than half an hour. Many tourists also break their own bread and other snacks into pieces and scatter them. Although seagulls have responded, the scale and momentum are much worse than before. Several tourists without snacks grabbed the broken pebbles and threw them at the seagulls as food. Clever seagulls fly away disdainfully, so they won't be fooled.
The old man and the young man didn't leave immediately. They walked out of the crowd and sat down on a clean beach slightly above the coastline. The old man took out the hot water cup from his satchel, drank some water and looked at the seagulls gathering in the distance. What kind? Happiness welled up in her eyes, just like a mother feeding her children and watching them run out of the yard to play. And the handsome young girl in white is taking a selfie with her mobile phone.
The kindness of the old man makes me want to get close to her, and I want to solve my doubts.
"Are you religious?" Based on past life experience? I asked.
"No. I don't believe in any religion. " ? She looked at me and answered. ?
"That-"I weakly questioned again.
? Maybe she is in a good mood today, or she sees my kindness and sincerity. She opened her mouth and told me the following experience.
My family has been fishermen for generations, living by the sea of Black Rock Reef, and my father supported the whole family with a small boat. I've been at sea all the year round and never returned empty-handed. In the past, there were more things in the sea than now, and the harvest was different in different seasons. Fresh goods are exchanged for money, and we also eat those that are not sold out. One spring, it was this time. It is the best time for sea bass and barracuda. My father goes to sea every day regardless of everything. Sometimes, in order to catch more and bigger fish, he will rock the boat and go far away. He leaves before dawn every day and comes back at half past noon. However, once it was dark and my father hadn't come back, my mother led the whole family to wait at the seaside. I was seven or eight years old then. It was a waiting night, and my mother collapsed on the beach, crying in despair. In those days, fishermen didn't have motorboats, but they all used manual sampans. There was no weather forecast, no communication, no cell phone and no navigation. Fishermen go out to sea by experience and luck. Therefore, it is not uncommon for fishermen to die in the sea.
The old man took a sip of hot water, looked at the seagulls flying in the distance affectionately, and continued to tell her family story.
It was the sea cat that saved my life! This is a sentence that my father often talks about. In the past, we called seagulls sea cats because their calls were too similar to those of cats in estrus. My father said it was bad luck that day, and he turned around several times in a row. When the sun goes down, the scattered small miscellaneous fish are caught in one net. Thinking of the children waiting at home, he had to grit his teeth and row in the open sea where he seldom went. I don't know how far this road has gone. There are indeed more fish than offshore. Each net bag is full of big and lively bass. Before I knew it, it was dark and the sea fog came. It's really big, and everything around it is blurred. I quickly closed the net to catch up, but I lost my way. If the weather is fine, no matter how far you go, distant coastlines, islands and reefs in different directions, the sun, moon and stars, and experienced fishermen will lead them home. Now, from memory alone, 30 degrees in the left rear should be right, and my father stepped up the sculling while secretly calculating.
? It's almost midnight, my father's efforts are over, the coast disappears, and I'm completely lost. My father once said that the sea seems calm, but in fact it is undercurrent. If you can't avoid the undercurrent and go in the wrong direction, you are likely to enter the old ocean at this time. Lao Yang is my father's name for the distant sea. There was no wind and waves in the old ocean, and the sampan was a blade of grass. In addition, on foggy nights, the danger can be imagined, and it is strange not to despair. The desperate father gave up his efforts and lay on the boat waiting for death, leaving him where the undercurrent sent him. I don't know how long it took, but my father heard the meowing of the sea cat, whoa-whoa, whoa-whoa, listen carefully and make sure it's not an illusion, not far away. Father knows from experience that sea cats live on islands or reefs at night, and reefs should be nearby. Looking forward to the hope of life, my father used up his last strength and rowed the boat with the sound of sea cats.
At dawn, the fog gradually dispersed and the sun rose into the air. Many neighbors rushed to the seaside, and the elderly people lit incense sticks and prayed for the peace of Poseidon. Mother was supported by everyone and had no strength to struggle. Everyone had no hope.
? Look! Seagull boat!
? I found it first and cried.
? In the distance between the water and the sky, a flock of seagulls moved to the shore around a small boat. Approaching, I heard the cheerful chirping of seagulls, hundreds of them. They flew around the ship, huddled together like a group of guards. Father stood at the bow of the boat and raised his oars above his head, just as the sun was rising.
Father said that half of the fish caught that day was thrown to the sea cats on the island, and half was chopped and thrown at the bow and stern, so that the sea cats ate all the way. You can't forget them in the future.
"What happened later? Is the old father and the boat there? " I asked.
? She smiled. I am 80 years old. My granddaughter graduated from college and my father left long ago. After liberation, the ship and people returned to the farm. He retired from there and enjoyed some blessings in his later years. Instead of rowing into the sea, he often steamed cakes and took us to the seaside to feed the seagulls every year when they came.
When I got home, the story told by the old lady kept haunting my mind, turning over the photos of seagulls taken by my mobile phone and looking up all kinds of information about seagulls.
So seagulls are migratory birds. Their life expectancy is about 24 years old. They fly from Siberia in winter and spring to feed for the winter, and fly back to their hometown in Siberia in summer and autumn to lay eggs and breed. It is said that they have an accurate navigation system, and they travel between their two homes in Wan Li year after year.
Seagull is also a competent weatherman. If seagulls fly close to the sea, the weather will be fine in the future; If they wander around the seaside, the weather will get worse gradually. If seagulls leave the water and fly high, flying from the sea to the seaside in droves, or flocks of seagulls gather on the beach or in cracks in rocks, this indicates that a storm is coming. Seagulls can foresee storms because their bones are hollow and tubular, and they are filled with air without bone marrow. This is not only convenient for flying, but also like a barometer, which can predict the weather changes in time. In addition, the hollow feather tubes on seagulls' wings are like small barometers, which can sensitively feel the change of air pressure.
Seagulls are also "forecasters" of maritime navigation safety. Experienced seafarers know that seagulls often land around shoals, rocks or reefs, and seagulls fly and make noise, thus reminding seafarers that there are reefs here! At the same time, seagulls also have the habit of flying in and out of the port. Whenever navigation is lost or foggy, you can find the port by observing the flying direction of seagulls.
? There is a story in Liezi. Emperor:
In ancient times, there was a man who especially liked seagulls on the sea. He goes to the seaside every day to watch seagulls soar in the waves. After a long time, seagulls have become familiar with him. Sometimes they fly around him and even dare to stop on him. This man plays with seagulls, and there are more than one hundred seagulls circling around him.
? One day, the man's father said to him, "Son! I heard that seagulls hover around you every day when you go to the seaside. Is it true? " The man answered honestly, "Yes, father." His father said, "Great. Go and get me some seagulls today and let me play with them.
? The man had no choice but to go to the seaside and want to bring back one or two seagulls to his father. There are thousands of seagulls flying freely on the vast sea. The man screamed as usual, expecting seagulls to fly in droves. But this time, the birds didn't fly to him, as if they didn't hear or see him.
Li Bai's "Immortals ride the yellow crane, and the sea wanderers have no intention of following Bai Ou." Wang Wei's "Give honor to any rude person, why should I be afraid of seagulls, even if I have an idea?" ? ",said is the story. Clever seagulls can penetrate deep into people's hearts.
? After reading these, I think about the story told by the old woman and feel deeply guilty. Liezi, Li Bai and Wang Wei in the pre-Qin period knew about it long ago, but I thought the seagull I was familiar with actually knew nothing about it, let alone its spirituality. Over the years, I have misunderstood it, not everything I have seen and heard this time, but I may misunderstand it all my life. Then, I had another beautiful feeling about seagulls that I never liked. Next time you go to the seaside, be sure to bring some delicious food to these elves. Think again, in the future, this beautiful old granddaughter should be able to take over the mission of the family, right? I hope we can meet at the seaside next time.
Maybe each of us has misunderstandings and misunderstandings more or less. We never know anything about animals, things and people. Even if we think we are familiar with what we know, we may not really know and understand it. It was not until I had an opportunity and met some triggers that I had a completely different understanding from before. This process of understanding is sometimes short, sometimes it takes a long time, and sometimes it is a lifetime.