The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Meet Smeagull the seagull
True story of a Westbrook bird with a taste for finer things
WESTBROOK — This seagull is an early riser and a picky eater — preferring delicacies from a gourmet fishmonger — who isn’t too proud to accept a hand-out.
“Smeagull the seagull (specifically a herring gull) wakes me up around 6:30 in the morning with a knock-knock-knock on our sliding glass door. I rustle up some food from the bottom of the freezer as fast as I can, and so starts a typical day in Westbrook by the shore,” said Mark Lender, author and naturalist.
“It’s been happening for several years now and has become routine, if one can define a close encounter with a seagull ‘routine.’ ”
Lender, whose voice you might have heard on his NPR radio show, “Living on Earth,” sometimes slips into verse when he talks about wildlife.
Lender said, “It all started around 2007. Here comes this seagull after some seed I threw out, but he’s eating only the sunflower seeds that are still in the pods; the rest of his cronies are less picky and even mistaking small pebbles for food.
“A few days later, here he comes again, choosing only the whole kernels of corn. A few days after that, he knocked on our door and simply wanted more food. To the both of us, it was amazing how he communicated and we understood.”
So, did the authors train Smeagull or did the bird train them?
“Now, a decade later, he has his own freezer compartment, and at certain times, the first about 6:15 in the morning, he knocks on the door and we spring into action. If we’re on errands and it’s time to eat, he even knows the sound of my truck or Valerie’s car. If we’re out of food, we head over to Star Fish Market, where Mike and Colette keep a ‘leftover’ supply of goodies for us.”
Valerie Pettis is Lender’s wife, a graphic designer and the illustrator of “Smeagull the Seagull,” a book for all ages about their experiences with Smeagull; Lender wrote the verse accompanying the illustrations.
Pettis, internationally known not only for her work in human rights, but also for her creation of the symbol for the International Decade of Women that she designed for the United Nations, enthuses more about Smeagull than about her artistic expertise; the illustrations in “Smeagull the Seagull” are more than real.
And they both agree. “We can’t sell the house, we can’t move and seagulls live to 40 years sometimes. What would he do without us? Sometimes we feel anxious about leaving for the movies or dinner.”
Their first book signing took place at Star Fish Market in Guilford, one of the few fish markets in the area to host a book signing. On a closer look, one notices that Mike and Colette Lukas, owners of Star Fish, are part of the book. Captain Mike is a fisherman who goes out on a moment’s notice to gather smelt, and Collette (the real Colette is Mike’s wife, spelled with one “l”) is the name of his boat.
Also blending fiction with nonfiction, Star Fish in the book looks like Lobster Landing, Enea Bacci’s famous lobster roll eatery at the end of Commerce Street in Clinton and nothing like the actual Star Fish Market in Guilford, where Lender and Pettis entertained several enthusiastic customers with a real-life story (with some fiction thrown in to keep everyone on his toes).
The setting was perfect because all around the store, there was plenty of gourmet seagull food: Atlantic char, the biggest Gulf shrimp on earth, softshell crabs (served only at the Gull House in New York City), scallops from Niantic Bay, and wild-caught (by Mike, of course) monk fish, one of Smeagull’s favorites.
There is a section for bagels and rolls that some seagulls like, but Mike and Colette have a stock of some of the best cheeses known to man. Seagulls, however, eschew gorgonzola and bleu — too soft.
An enthusiastic reader, Lender is widely known as a producer, writer and presenter of “Living on Earth.” He also wrote “Salt Marsh Diary: A Year on the Connecticut Coast (2011)” and was a contributor to the ShoreLine Times for many years. When he’s reading his “Smeagull” verse, he morphs into a fantasy world — or is it?
He travels to exotic places all over the world: Africa, Akpatok Island in Hudson Strait , Carcass Island, Mt. Engadine, Jasper National Park, Greenland and Iceland. An expert photographer, he’s been nose-to-nose with polar bears (through his camera lens, that is) and quiet enough to shoot close-ups of hummingbirds. He understands penguin “language” and recognizes dialects of mallard idiom. He has seagull friends all over the world. He turns fantasy into reality.
“Smeagull the Seagull” is a true story that teaches “that animals are precious and have needs, feelings, and family — just like us.” The reader also learns that seagulls are individuals, seagulls talk (“I’m tired,” “I’m hungry,” “Please!,” “I’m so sad” and “I’m angry”).
Seagulls can be choosy. “I eat fish only from Star Fish,” Smeagull cawed one day. Lender’s shopping cart