Herring Today Gull Tomorrow

By Bob Dougherty


Me and my dog walk daily in Tiburon.
We talk to people and look at the bay;
my dog, you know, he mostly sniffs. 
What a commotion last December,
I’ve never seen so many seagulls
swimming, flying and squawking. 
My dog, he ignores them, but me
and the seals think it’s quite a show. 
I told a guy I know about the gulls,
“It’s the herring run”, Frank says. 
“Herring swim they can’t run”, I say. 
He laughs, “no, no, you don’t get it
the herring run is when they lay eggs”,
he says, “gulls love herring eggs
and that’s why all the gulls come”. 
So, I shrug, “then call it a gull run”. 
He says, “no herring, no gulls”. 
So, I learn a lot walking by the bay
about people, the bay, fish, birds
and that whole cycle of life thing. 
I think the gulls leave a lot of eggs,
because no eggs, no herring, no gulls;
it all works year after year.