Photo Credit: Albanese, Caroline. Hugo the Seagull and the Prisoner of Party City. Photograph.Blogspot. 26 Aug. 2011. Web. <www.blogspot.com>.

Timmy was the only seagull in his population that couldn't fly and thus he was bullied,

teased, and had no friends. One day he decided to leave the community and he

began waddling on the beach at the edge of the water for a few hours. 

Photo Credit: Cruikshank, Larry. Lone Seagull At Lake. 2005. Photograph. 123RF. Oct. 2005. Web. <www.123rf.com>.

Occasionally, Timmy would find some driftwood on which he would lay down on, so that he could take a break from all that waddling. As he rested on the drift, he could feel the cool breeze of the wind and

the blazing sun burning his nose, because he forgot to put on sunscreen. Little did he know, the dead organisms like the driftwood, were a source

of nutrients to the beach that would eventually turn into humus, and support future organisms.

As Timmy continued to waddle along the beach, he found an empty can

of SpaghettiOs®. So he decides to percolate by sticking the can in to the sand, that contained things like humus, and figured out that it took

20 seconds for the water to go through the sand.   

Eventually Timmy wanders off farther from the water and goes toward the dune builders. There he begins to follow a trail. But on the

sides, he notices how the marram grass helped build the dunes.

While waddling through the dune builder he waddles up closer to some marram grass which is actually a pioneer plant because its roots are very strong and the blowing of the wind allows

them to collect more sand. 

Another plant that Timmy notices in the dune builders is the sand reed, which looks similar to wheat. But before he left the dune builders, his curiosity led him to percolate and find that

it took 20.6 seconds, which was a little bit slower than at the beach most likely because of

the numerous plant roots that were not present on the beach.

As Timmy waddles on, to his right he spots an area full of delicate bluestem indicating that

he is now in the lee side. He figures that because there is less wind due to the hills

acting as a barrier, it allows the bluestem to grow much more here than it would have

been able to on the windy beach.  

Along his waddling trail, Timmy spots some cottonwoods in the damp depressions

between the dunes, where there must be better soil.

As Timmy waddles his way toward the pine trees, he realizes that he forgot to percolate! So he comes waddling back as fast as he can and even falls on his beak a few times. This

time, he had to wait 52 seconds for the water to go through, which would mean that there was even more organic matter & humus in

the soil.  

As little Timmy sees the big jack pines, it reminds him of a Christmas tree and his community, but when he goes to touch

it, the sharp needles hurt him and instantly, the thoughts of how much he

hates his community flood his mind.

Timmy also spots some juniper near by, which reminds him of his favorite planet

- Jupiter. 

As Timmy went to percolate, he realized that he had just touch some poison ivy! But he was

determined to percolate and so he did for 377 sec. Then he furiously rolled around in the sand

so that he could get the poison of off him. 

Photo Credit: Seagull's Teeth. Photograph. Hellishhumor. Web. Sept. 2011. <www.hellishumor.com>.

As Timmy waddles on, he sees certain areas where there is almost nothing but

sand. He realizes that they must be blowouts caused by disturbances from either the giant humans or by nature

causes such as the gusty winds.

In the blowouts, he notices that the pioneer plants that he saw near the beach were also present. Yet in the

blowouts, they were in secondary succession since there had

been life there before, unlike in primary succession where there is no prior life. 

Seeing so much sand and so little life in the blowout, Timmy guessed that it would take about the same time to

percolate as it did in the dune builder, and it did only take 22.1 seconds. 

Along his journey, when Timmy looked at the hickory leaves, he was not sure whether it was poison ivy or really

hickory. So he made sure not to get to close, in order to avoid another possible

encounter with poison ivy.

As he went through the forest, he had no trouble recognizing the big leaves of the oak that were usually thicker and more

glossy than other leaves.  

Timmy also came upon the interesting black oak because of its delicate

looking shape which he caught out of the corner of his eye.   

As Timmy climbed up the hundreds of stairs with all his

might, he also spotted some elm leaves. 

One of the most colorful and unique leaves that Timmy found were of the

sand cherry, which still hadn't bloomed yet but were still beautiful to observe.

The sassafras was another one of Timmy's favorite leaves because it had a special texture that no other leaf in the

dunes had. 

The last leaf that Timmy found was an ash leaf. It looked like an elm but it had a unique pattern of uneven color across the

leaf. 

When Timmy decided to percolate in here, it took him 261 seconds to because their was so much organic matter in the

soil in the woods, as well as the deep thick roots of the tall trees that towered

over Timmy.

Once Timmy came out of the woods, he was surprised and confused by what he saw. Timmy was so caught of guard that

he stumbled and went tumbling down the endless number of stairs.

After his dizziness went away,  he began seeing pioneer plants everywhere instead of

more tall trees, which meant he had now come to the sandmine. Even Timmy's percolation time had changed to 98 seconds from 261

seconds in the woods.

Nearby, Timmy notices an interdunal pond between some sand dunes, which he thinks

must have been a depression caused by wind and erosion and then just filled with water.

Because it was so hot out and he was so thirsty, Timmy decides to go in to the pond

and takes a quick bath to cool of and rehydrate. 

After taking a bath, Timmy realizes that he hasn't eaten anything but a few white

tiger beetles. Suddenly he notices a group of students taking pictures of him, and more and more of them coming out of a big yellow bus. 

Timmy sneaks past the women painting in the parking lot and into the bus where

he finds some food. He then dozes off until he wakes up and realizes that the

bus is now leaving the dunes. Photo Credit: Gene, Jonathen. Jonathon Livingroom Seagul. Photograph. Blogspot. 18 July 2010. Web. <www.blogspot.com>.

Will Timmy ever make it back to his population? Find out in the sequel to

be released next fall.