More animal attacks

Well, I finally have proof of something I have always suspected. Seagulls are scheming, vengeful birds who take aim with deliberation! On Friday evening I did an after work run around the salt ponds in the San Francisco Wildlife Refuge. I decided to do the full double loop including the levees on both sides of the railroad tracks for a total 14.5 miles. The section on the other side of the tracks from the Alviso Marina is very empty in the evening since the visitor center is closed.

Running along this section I noticed a sort of "sea of white" up ahead on the path. As I got closer I realized that there were probably a couple of hundred seagulls sitting on the levee in front of me. It was a pretty breezy day and as I came upon them they would fly up and into the wind and just sort of hover there above the left side of the trail. I thought this was kind of neat until I heard this sort of soft "thpt" sound hitting the trail along side of me. I looked up and quickly realized that about every 4th or 5th one of these gulls was letting loose. I was running right in the middle of a veritable seagull bombing raid! Lucky for me (and my exposed head), I was able to find a safe shelter from the onslaught by keeping to the far right side of the trail. While these birds definitely appeared to have the determination and desire, their mastery of ballistics was a bit lacking and they were only able to strafe about 2/3 of the trail.

I escaped thise incident unharmed, but a wee bit wiser. Perhaps I should reconsider the idea of wearing a hat while I run. It may offer protection from more than just the sun.