The Secret Life of Birds

I should like to know the secret life of birds. There's a fascinating book called The Secret Life of Bees and Richard Attenborough has drawn our attention to many hitherto unknown facets of avian life in his Life of Birds documentary series. But I still wonder.

There were four seagull chicks getting fed by the same adult in one area of Alcatraz. So what, say you? Well, Western Gulls lay three eggs in each nest. This seems incontrovertible. And other gulls' nestlings are driven away or killed, as a general rule. But one of the four chicks huddled by itself when feeding time was over, so I fancy it an adopted orphan. Perhaps only other adults are territorial rivals. Josh, the biologist intern, said he saw one other group of four and thinks a similar thing occurred, for one was much bigger than the other three. If only someone had time to get to the bottom of this... Anyone want to sponsor me to uncover the secret life of birds?

--Postscript: Several days later, we discovered a pair of gulls feeding six chicks, quite near a public path. The other three had probably fallen from a nest on the cliff above. The adults seem a grouchy couple, aggressive toward human passersby. No wonder--they're super parents!