Black-tailed gull’s hatchling

“Squack, Squack.”

You would have once seen a bunch of gulls crying noisily, covering a whole island.

I have seen a documentary which was about a black-tailed gull’s life. This black-tailed gull lays its 4 to 5 eggs in the bushes of a deserted island during May to August, and incubates them.

With an effort, the hatchlings try to survive by remembering their mother’s voice.

Those noisy cries were made by the hatchlings,voices calling for their mother.

Since multiple numbers of black-tailed gulls live in a small space, their turf war is intense.

The bushes are a threatening place for the hatchlings, who cannot distinguish what they see. The young hatchling isn’t an exception as a target of attack.

If one of the gulls crosses over its territory, the hatchlings’ life is in danger. That is why by nature, the hatchlings rely on their mother’s voice.

When the mother alerts, the hatchlings come together in haste, drop their heads down, and wait until their mother’s warning to be canceled.

After listening to their mother’s approval that it’s alright, they then loosen up their bodies and move here and there.

The black-tailed gull cannot distinguish the voice of its own hatchlings.

That is because it cannot catch the change of their hatchlings’ voice, since the hatchlings grow too quickly.

So when the hatchlings shrink with alert and do not snuggle into their mother, the mother gull; deluding itself that they are hatchlings of another gull, attacks them.

The other gulls also distinguish their hatchlings with the hatchlings’ behavior.

It is pitiful to watch young hatchlings being attacked by another mother gull. When a hatchling of another violates a territory, the mother gull of that territory attacks them until they die.

The poor hatchling struggles to survive,but most of them die because they have left their mother.

On the island, you can see dead hatchlings here and there.

When I noticed the hatchling can only survive from the enemies by remembering its mother’s voice, following what the mother had told it to do, and seeing the mother trying to protect its hatchling, it made me think of the heavenly world.

Though we cannot see the invisible world, it brought me to attention thinking that the battle with the evil spirits would be also intense. Heavenly Mother, protects us from many attacks of the evil spirits, and teaches us that we must obey God’s words in order to return to the heavenly home.

I truly give thanks to Heavenly Mother,for even today, She protects these weak children’s souls under Her wings, and leads us with love to Heaven.

Until the day, when we go back to our home, I will become a faithful child who listens attentively to our Heavenly Mother’s voice, and a child who obeys.