CBC's rooftop seagull adopted as mascot by U.S. family

CBC Saint John's rooftop seagull is a familiar face or morning television and has his own Twitter handle. Now Sea B. Seagull's face will be emblazoned on some T-shirts worn by an American family.

The bird captured the hearts of a Connecticut family that was vacationing in New Brunswick last summer, and now they plan to have shirts made featuring their trip's mascot.

Patricia Metzner has family roots in Quebec and New Brunswick and travelled to both provinces with her two sisters, brother-in-law and daughter to research their family tree.

"That first morning in Quebec, I turned on the TV searching for an English language station and I got the N.B. First program … and all of a sudden on this video cam, here is a seagull just sitting there like the king of the world," Metzner said Friday on Information Morning Saint John.

"And there was something about him, his manner, every morning we turned on your station to get the news and he became the symbol of this marvellous trip, the king of his domain.

"He would sit, he would look around, he would fly away, he would come back and he just became a symbol of a wonderful vacation."

Metzner and her family dubbed him "Gill the Gull — for alliteration" and he became a running theme on their genealogical road trip that took them to Saint John and Sussex.

"We have five relatives in an SUV on long distances but we got along so well. We laughed, we enjoyed, we reminisced, and it was just such a beautiful trip," she said.

"And he just came to represent the serenity, the good will, something so unexpected, and he was there every day for us."

Metzner contacted CBC looking for an image of the gull for a custom t-shirt design, and admits the request is "a little strange."

"My family can't believe I called the station, I said, 'Well, we want to remember this trip. We want to memorialize it.'"