The seagulls of Bang Pu
The Bangkok Post website posted a video of the pier at Bang Pu, in Samut Prakan (south of Bangkok), showing a large number of seagulls being fed by visitors to the pier.
The pier has been around since 1938 and has been a popular spot for (I presume mostly) Thai visitors ever since. (see: www.bangkokpost.com/bang-pu-a-long-love-affair
Seagulls in the Netherlands
As a Dutchman, I don't understand what's so nice about feeding seagulls in this way. The gull is a protected bird species in our country for reasons that are incomprehensible to me, but in general those 'shit thrushes' cause quite a bit of nuisance. EenVandaag has already paid attention to the seagull problem. The article on their website began as follows:
“They shit on the cheese, take the food off your plate while you're just sitting on the terrace. Seagulls in Alkmaar are a real plague for entrepreneurs and visitors to the weekly cheese market. The municipalities of Leiden and Haarlem are also experiencing a lot of nuisance from the animals.”
In the accompanying video you even see a seagull stealing a herring from a man who just wanted to let the delicious fish slide in.
Bang Pu
It will be different if you view the pier and surroundings there at Bang Pu as a birdwatcher. You know, a bird watcher is someone who, among other things, looks at birds and thereby determines the different species. My knowledge of gulls is limited to the lesser gull and the great black-headed gull, but of course there are many more species. However, Bang Pu is a bird watcher's paradise, as it is home to many species of seagulls and other seabirds. The Thaibirding website describes the location and the birds to be observed in great detail www.thaibirding.com/locations/central/bang_poo.htm Wonderful reading material for the real bird watcher.
Bird watchers in Thailand
Bang Pu is not the only place in Thailand for bird watchers. On the aforementioned website of Thaibirding you will find even more interesting locations and also read the earlier story on this blog: www.thailandblog.nl/flora-en-fauna/vogelaars-thailand
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