I Got This Quirky Postcard from Florida... And It Started an International Bird Investigation
And yesterday, November 14, 2025, I got one of those joys... all the way from Tampa, Florida, USA.
It wasn’t a bill. It wasn’t a flyer. It was a postcard.
But this wasn't just any postcard. This was a hand-painted, character-filled piece of art that came with a dad joke so wonderfully cheesy it made me grin all by myself. The star of the show? A "lil' sea bird" drawn with intentional "quirkiness."
As someone who loves the stories behind things, I couldn't just leave it at that. This postcard was begging to be unpacked. So, let’s unravel the story of this well-traveled piece of cardboard, and how it accidentally sent me on a journey from the beaches of Florida to the mamak stalls of Kuala Lumpur.
The Mailbox Magic
Let's play detective for a moment.
The postcard is from a very kind person named DaveAnn. On the back, a lovely handwritten message reads: "Hello Safiya! I painted this lil' sea bird and hope his quirkiness makes you smile!" It’s signed, "Kindly, DaveAnn." She even tiny-signed "DAVEANN" on one of the bird's feet.
It’s a postcard featuring a hand-drawn cartoon seagull, standing on some wooden posts by the water against a lovely blue background. And, of course, the joke. The magnificent joke:
"*How do seagulls decide where to go for vacation?
...They wing it. :)" I know. I'm still smiling.
It was sent from the St. Petersburg/Tampa area in Florida, USA. The postmark confirms it. On the day it was written, DaveAnn even noted the weather: 83°F (that's about 28.3°C) at 2:50 PM EST. Basically, typical hot Malaysian weather. They’re just like us!
This postcard has two key dates. It was written and postmarked on September 23, 2025. It completed its long journey and landed in my Malaysian mailbox almost two months later, on November 14, 2025. Just think about that journey.
This is the best part. The "why" is so simple and pure: "...hope his quirkiness makes you smile!" It was a random act of kindness, sent across an ocean, just to brighten someone's day. Mission accomplished, DaveAnn.
Through the good old-fashioned international postal service. What caught my eye was the beautiful "Global USA Forever 2025" stamp featuring a compass rose. How perfectly appropriate for a piece of mail that navigated halfway around the world.
Let's Talk About 'Quirky' the Seagull
Just look at this drawing. This isn't a realistic, National Geographic portrait. This is a character.
DaveAnn’s art is charming. 'Quirky' has a comically plump, round body, a curious S-shaped neck and big, soulful eyes that seem to be saying, "You got any fries?" His legs are bright orange and spindly, and he has a tiny tuft of feathers on his head that looks like he just rolled out of bed.
Here’s what I love about it: it captures the spirit of a seagull, not just its appearance. Anyone who has been to a beach where seagulls hang out knows they aren't just birds; they are personalities. They are cocky, loud, curious, and walk around with an unshakeable confidence. This drawing captures all of that "quirkiness" perfectly.
It made me smile, and then it got me thinking. What's the real story behind this famously goofy bird?
The Real Life of Seagull
The postcard's "Global" stamp was a perfect cue. Seagulls (or just "gulls" to the pros, from the scientific family Laridae) are a truly global species. And they are far more complex than just being beach-side chip thieves.
It's Not Just the 'Sea'
Despite their name, seagulls are masters of adaptation. Yes, you'll find them on every coastline from Florida to California. But you'll also find them hundreds of miles inland.
They have become experts in urban living. They patrol shopping mall parking lots, circle landfills and wait patiently outside fast-food restaurants. They don't need the sea; they just need us... and our leftovers. They are one of the most successful species to adapt to the human-made world.
The "I'll-Eat-That" Buffet
A seagull is, above all, an opportunist. Their "natural" diet is supposed to be fish, crabs, insects and eggs. They're smart, too; some have been observed dropping hard-shelled clams onto rocks or roads to crack them open.
But their modern diet? Dropped pizza. Half-eaten sandwiches. Open garbage bags. And yes, french fries (their favorite, apparently). They are basically nature's clean-up crew, or as some grumpy beach-goers call them, "rats with wings". Their ability to switch from hunting fish in the ocean to eating a leftover hot dog in a theme park is an evolutionary triumph.
Their Ecosystem Role | The Good and The Bad
That "Global" stamp is right... their impact is global, too.
The Good: They are a vital sanitation squad. By eating food scraps, dead animals and garbage, they help keep our beaches and cities clean, reducing the spread of disease.
The Bad: When their populations explode (thanks to our endless buffets), they become pests. They can be aggressive, incredibly noisy and their droppings can be a problem. They also sometimes prey on the eggs and chicks of more endangered seabirds.
They are a complicated bird... part-essential, part-problem, and 100% our own creation.
The Malaysian Connection | Where Are Our Seagulls?
This is the question that popped into my head as I stood in my Malaysian hallway, holding this postcard from Florida: Do we even have seagulls in Malaysia?
The short answer: Not really.
True seagulls are mostly birds of cooler, temperate climates. Our tropical world is just not their scene. Every once in a while, a rare visitor like a Brown-headed Gull might get lost and be spotted by birdwatchers in Penang or Kuala Selangor, but they aren't residents. They're just pelancong (tourists).
So, we don't have a "seagull problem".
But... does that mean we don't have a bird that fills that job opening? That ecological niche?
Oh, we absolutely do.
Think about our own urban ecosystem. We have our own loud, incredibly smart and ridiculously adaptable clean-up crew. Meet Malaysia's champions of adaptation:
The House Crow (Gagak)
The Common Myna (Tiong)
They may not look like 'Quirky' the seagull, but behaviorally, they are his spiritual cousins.
Seagull vs. Crow
You might think they're worlds apart, but squint a little and you'll see they're the same bird in a different uniform. Both are synanthropic species... creatures that benefit and thrive from living closely with humans.
Let's compare them, head-to-head.
1. The "Anything Goes" Diet
The Seagull: Famous for dive-bombing you to steal your fries on a Florida beach. They'll rip open trash bags behind restaurants for fish scraps or old pizza.
The Crow: Famous for boldly landing on your table at the mamak stall to steal your leftover roti canai. They are masters at tearing open the plastic tepi jalan garbage bags to find discarded nasi lemak.
Verdict: It's a tie. Both are all-star omnivores who have hacked our food chain.
2. The "Big Brain" Energy
The Seagull: They are smart. As mentioned, they use tools (like roads and rocks) to break open food. They've learned to follow fishing boats and farm tractors, knowing they churn up easy meals. A solid "B+" student.
The Crow: This is next-level. Crows are in the corvid family, considered among the most intelligent animals on Earth, on par with chimpanzees. They don't just use tools; they make tools. They can solve complex, multi-step puzzles.
Verdict: The Crow wins. If the seagull is clever, the crow is a certified genius.
3. The Public Image Problem
The Seagull: In the West, they are universally known as "rats with wings". They are loud (that shrieking "ka-ka-kaw" sound), aggressive and messy.
The Crow: In Malaysia, they are the 5 AM alarm clock nobody asked for. Their harsh, repetitive "kwaa-kwaa" is the soundtrack to our cities. We see them as noisy, dirty and a general nuisance.
Verdict: Another tie. We have the exact same love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with our urban birds.
4. "Beach Gang" vs. "Mafia Family"
This is the most fascinating difference.
The Seagull ("The Beach Gang"): Seagulls are social, but in a chaotic way. They live in huge, loose colonies or flocks. It's "safety in numbers." There's a pecking order (the biggest, meanest bird gets the best food), but it's mostly every bird for itself within the mob.
The Crow ("The Mafia Family"): Crows are social on a deeply complex level. They don't just have flocks; they have tight-knit family units. They practice "cooperative breeding", where older siblings stay with their parents for years to help raise the new baby chicks. They share guard duty and food.
And here’s the kicker: Crows hold "funerals". When a crow dies, others gather around, not to mourn, but to investigate what killed it so they can all learn to avoid that danger. They also, famously, hold grudges. They can remember a human face that has threatened them for years and they will teach their children and other crows in their family that "this person is an enemy".
Verdict: Seagulls are a loud street gang. Crows are an organized crime family with long memories and deep loyalties.
Final Thoughts from a Piece of Cardboard
And it all started with a postcard.
A single piece of paper that took two months to cross the planet, carrying a "quirky" drawing and a cute joke.
It's a beautiful reminder that while our worlds seem different, we may not have seagulls on our streets... our ecosystems tell parallel stories. Nature always finds a way to fill a role. Whether it's a seagull in Tampa eying your french fries or a crow in KL eying your roti banjir, nature is always adapting to us.
To DaveAnn in Florida, thank you. You didn't just make me smile; you sent me down an intellectual rabbit hole about birds, global ecology, and the fascinating ways we're all connected.
Your postcard is proof that in this high-speed digital age, sometimes the slowest, simplest and quirkiest things can have the biggest impact.
And hey, the next time you see a crow confidently strutting around a kopitiam, maybe give it a little nod of respect. It's not just a pest; it's Malaysia's very own seagull.
And just like its American cousin, it's just trying to... wing it.
Comments