Answer to “which way is the seagull flying?”

7 Responses to Answer to “which way is the seagull flying?”

1. Chris Byrne says:

   October 31, 2008 at 1:00 am

   I was able to see enough shadow detail that the illusion didn’t work on me.

   Of course, I’m running a brightness and color corrected high end LCD.
2. Les Jones says:

   October 31, 2008 at 7:46 am

   Doug mentioned that it was almost perfect. If I use that again I’ll tune it a bit.
3. Steve K. says:

   October 31, 2008 at 9:03 am

   It’s actually a tern, not a gull.

   (…thumbing through guide…) gull-billed tern, maybe?
4. Les Jones says:

   October 31, 2008 at 9:54 am

   So it terns out it’s not a gull? But is it a boy or a gull? Sorry, I’ve been waiting to use that pun forever.

5. Pingback: Seagull optical illusion | Les Jones

6. Jim says:

   August 20, 2009 at 9:04 am

   Why along the East coast do sea gulls fly East in the evening and West in the morning???
7. Les Jones says:

   August 20, 2009 at 9:24 pm

   When I took ornithology in college I did my experimental project on something like that. Basically, the birds (I was watching terns) fly opposite the direction of the wind. When they see a fish they tilt their wings up, which kills their momentum. Then they drop like a stone into the water and grab the fish with their beak.

   So assuming the statement you made is correct I’d guess it’s because of the difference in prevailing winds in the morning and evening. But I’d expect wind direction is determined by factors other than just time of day, even if that factor is predominant.
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