No moment in the long and violent life of Argen, the herring gull, was placid. Even as a nestling, he had to survive crises and alarms. Even as an adult, graceful and strong, he was never far from wariness and fear.

Franklin Russell, the author of Watchers at the Pond, tells the story of Argen's life with dramatic intensity and with the intimate knowledge of the herring gull (Larus argentatus) gained from long and arduous campaigns on the rugged coastal cliffs of Newfoundland.

We see Argen as a fledgling, fed by his parents; Argen as a juvenile, learning to feed and to fight; Argen as an adult, alternately breeding in the gullery and winging across his territory--across dunes, marshes, tidal flats, the offshore islands, the oceanic hunting grounds. We watch him learn to avoid creatures stronger than he and to prey on creatures weaker. We watch him survive a catastrophe and the buffeting of the seasons. When Argen's fierce energy is at last diminished, then only did he cease to be that remarkably efficient creature, the herring gull.