Screeching Like Seagulls
Update: 2024-10-081
Share
Description
A group of seagull lovers in Belgium wants you to sympathize with these birds… by sounding just like them.
Comments
Top Podcasts
The Best New Comedy Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best News Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Business Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Sports Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New True Crime Podcast Right Now – June 2024The Best New Joe Rogan Experience Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Dan Bongino Show Podcast Right Now – June 20The Best New Mark Levin Podcast – June 2024
In Channel
United States
00:00
00:00
1.0x
0.5x
0.8x
1.0x
1.25x
1.5x
2.0x
3.0x
Sleep Timer
Off
End of Episode
5 Minutes
10 Minutes
15 Minutes
30 Minutes
45 Minutes
60 Minutes
120 Minutes
Transcript
00:00:00
Yesterday, we traveled to South Korea to compete in the space-out competition, where things were pretty common for the most part.
00:00:08
The contestants in this competition were on silent mode for 90 minutes.
00:00:12
But for today's competition, things get a little louder, and that's because we'll hear screeches from the coastline of Belgium, where people are competing to be the best seagulls creature.
00:00:29
Here's the episode.
00:00:30
Let's face it, seagulls have a pretty bad reputation.
00:00:34
They are annoying, extremely loud, love picking trash, and if you find yourself leaning around them, hide your food, they will snatch it from you.
00:00:43
They call them the "ruts of the sea" because of the nuisance they can't create, but after all, no sea without seagulls.
00:00:53
This is Jan Seis.
00:00:54
He works for the Flanders Marine Institute in Belgium.
00:00:58
Without seagulls you are not at the coast.
00:01:00
This is just part of the coast, the sound.
00:01:02
And of course not only the sound, also the way they can maneuver and fly, it's just part of the game.
00:01:10
And there is a game that is set up on the coastline of Belgium, where people are competing to act and mimic the sounds of seagulls.
00:01:20
And perhaps through this contest, people may find that seagulls are more than just rats of the sea.
00:01:32
Almenil Morales, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange incredible and wondrous places.
00:01:40
Today we'll go inside a pub to see how a group of seagull lovers are advocating for these underappreciated birds and see what it takes to be the best seagulls creature.
00:01:51
More after this.
00:01:53
As a marine biologist,
00:02:07
Jan spent years observing,
00:02:22
watching, and listening to the sounds of seagulls, he kept the kind of each bird, tracked the kind of species it was, and took down their age, and while making these observations,
00:02:33
he discovered how brilliant they are.
00:02:37
For instance, if they have a muscle and it's too big, they cannot easily open the shell.
00:02:42
So what they will do is they take it with them to a certain height and then they let it drop so that it breaks and that they can open it.
00:02:51
We had others seagulls, for instance, that moved like 80 km in land, we were so surprised.
00:02:59
What the hell are they doing, 80 km in land, and then back it, because they had to go back to the colony, and it turned out they all went to a chip's factory.
00:03:09
The chip's factory was throwing away the scraps and placing them in a trash bin without any lid.
00:03:15
So after a week or two, there was not one seagull there, but there were hundreds of them.
00:03:20
And that's because they speak to each other.
00:03:24
The coastline of Belgium is around 40 miles, and it's both shared by people and seagulls.
00:03:30
With very little room for these birds, Jan wants us to realize that they also depend on the coastline to survive.
00:03:37
In a way we have to accept that they are a part and an essential part of the coastal ecosystem.
00:03:44
It's their environment as well.
00:03:46
Okay, sometimes when they open a garbage bin, and it's all spread out there, I know sometimes it doesn't look like very nice, but they of course make also sure that they take away a lot of rubbish and carrion and dead animals.
00:04:03
So they make it clean in a way, and that's their role, that's what they do.
00:04:09
This is what Jan wants to highlight.
00:04:11
They want the public to sympathize with seagulls, and have an understanding of their lifestyle.
00:04:18
And so here's where the seagulls screeching contest comes in.
00:04:27
The competition takes place at a small pub in the coastline of Belgium, and it's not just people from Belgium who participate, other European nations also join in the fun, like people from France,
00:04:39
Denmark, and Italy.
00:04:41
Now the environment is, it's a small brown pub near railway station, about a few kilometers away from the coastline, very cozy environment,
00:04:52
and there is a stage there, and then there is a table with the jury, and the rest of the pub is just full with people.
00:05:01
The idea was hatched by seagull lover Claude Willert.
00:05:05
Claude grew up on the coastline of Belgium, and hearing these birds always reminds him of home.
00:05:11
Claude is also the host of the contest.
00:05:13
And just by accident Claude is also in his spare time, he's a stand-up comedian, so he told why not challenging people on stage to mimic a seagull, and okay,
00:05:23
they can use the behavior and the postures of a seagull, but of course, even more important is the sound they make, how they call, how they screech.
00:05:33
A group of scientists, researchers, and even government officials serve as judges for the competition.
00:05:40
They evaluate the performance based on how they act, what they do, and most importantly, how they sound.
00:05:46
With many years of experience with seagulls, Jan knows their language, so he's a top-tier expert and also serves as a judge.
00:05:59
When they really get excited, they can go into a long call, and that's saying like, stay away, this is my territory.
00:06:07
And when they have this long call, they really start trumpeting.
00:06:12
Becomes more and more thrilling, you can also have an alarm call.
00:06:16
It sounds like, and that's often like being attentive for what happens in the environment.
00:06:26
So he's warning other seagulls, like there's something going on there, be careful.
00:06:30
Or for young chicks, they have a begging call, but they still want to get some food from the parents, they will use a very high-pitched sound to beg for food.
00:06:42
So we know the sounds, and of course the better people can perform.
00:06:47
And the more different sounds they can produce, the higher the chance that they will win the trophy and the award.
00:06:55
And here's how the competition breaks down.
00:06:57
You have three categories, you have one of the adults, yeah, that's all, everyone older than 16 years old.
00:07:05
You're representing Portugal, six and seven by John.
00:07:12
Then you have a category for the young ones,
00:07:26
because we want to separate them.
00:07:28
And then we have also a third category with colonies,
00:07:43
so with two to five people on stage, you can behave like a colony of seagulls.
00:08:09
And that's how it works and then we give points.
00:08:14
The idea of having people sound like seagulls may sound silly to some, but this is serious business for John.
00:08:20
For him, this is how we can find compassion with these birds.
00:08:24
Of the people think there are always more and more seagulls.
00:08:28
But when you look at, for instance, Northwest and European populations of most seagulls, these populations are declining, they are not getting bigger.
00:08:39
Maybe it's because they enter more and more our towns and cities that they are more visible.
00:08:45
But there are less seagulls these days than compared to, for instance, the 70s.
00:08:52
And that's because you have less landfills.
00:08:55
Also in fisheries, these cards are not always allowed to be thrown out at sea, which is a good source of food for the seagulls.
00:09:05
So for seagulls, it gets more and more difficult to get food.
00:09:09
And maybe that's also why they then try to find it in cities.
00:09:13
The seagull screeching contest is ushering in a new generation of seagull lovers.
00:09:18
In fact, this year's standout was 9-year-old Cooper Wallace.
00:09:23
He scored the highest results in the competition.
00:09:26
He started mimicking seagulls after one took a bite of his sandwich.
00:09:30
Let's be forever, okay, are you ready?
00:09:45
Cooper, three, two, one.
00:09:49
Cooper, can you do other emotions?
00:09:54
He had a full repertoire,
00:10:06
he was crazy.
00:10:12
He was really having all the different calls, the long calls, the alarm calls, the mood calls.
00:10:18
Everything was there.
00:10:20
And he performed very well.
00:10:21
He was not only the best of the young category, but he was the best overall.
00:10:27
And I've been told that the week after the contest, he had to go from one television studio to the other ones, all truly okay.
00:10:35
Because everybody found it so fascinating and he was a nice chap also.
00:10:39
This was really great.
00:10:40
He did so well.
00:10:42
Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention?
00:10:46
Thank you so much to Claude Willard for providing all the audience this episode,
00:11:06
and thank you to Jan Sase.
00:11:08
The next contest is set in motion and will take place in April, just around breeding season for seagulls.
00:11:14
Our podcast is a co-production of Atlas Obscura and Stitcher Studios.
00:11:35
The people who make our show include Dylan Tharris, Doug Baldinger, Chris Naka, Camille Stanley, Johanna Mayer.
00:11:43
Tamika Witherspoon, Borderlayer, Gabi Gladney, Amanda McGow, Alexa Lim, Casey Holford, and Loose Fleming.
00:11:52
Our theme music is by Sam Tindall.
00:11:55
If you like our show, please give us a good review and rating wherever you get your podcast.
00:12:00
Make sure to follow us so you never miss an episode.
00:12:03
I'm Anelo Morales, hasta luego.
00:12:05
[Music]
00:12:09
[Music]
00:12:13
[BLANK_AUDIO]
00:12:23