The Gull Next Door | Hakai Magazine
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This article is part of Birdopolis, a three-part series that explores the lives of birds that are, by accident or design, spending more time in urban environments. The others are “Honolulu: A Seabird’s Surprising Five-Star Destination” and “The City, the Sparrow, and the Tempestuous Sea”.
The house didn’t beg for attention. A modest home, with a modest garden, on a nondescript street. Pigeons gathered on the terrace above, a congregation that would hardly draw a glance from most passersby. But its presence here—and only here—offered subtle confirmation that Anouk Spelt and Cara Williamson were in the right place. “X marks the spot,” the birds seemed to call.
Intel agreed. The researchers were chasing something, and GPS data confirmed their quarry visited this place with uncanny regularity. Armed with clues on a hunt for answers, they took the final steps and knocked on a stranger’s door.
