Seagulls, classic or dud?

(ok ok, I know the term "seagull" is purely just a term and that they've learned to adapt to us and our polluting ways even hundreds of miles away from a coastline... forgive me)

Otherwise, classic. Especially when they follow along with you on a ferry ride. Seagulls have different cries in different areas, I've noticed. In Seattle, they have a Morrissey type sadness to their cry. In L.A., they squeal and sound a big duckish. In Alaska (where they are called kitiwakes), they are like evil robotic birds whose only purpose is to send aural pain directly to yer brane.

"Pooping slowly onto wet sand..."

http://home.worldlink.com.au/appleserv/wsun/dance.JPG

However, seagull calls when sitting on the beach, with the waves rolling in: classic.

Way more seagulls flying around this summer it seems. Dud, especially when they're disruptive at 2.30 AM. One was hanging out on the roof for awhile, probably because there's so much garbage in the alleyway.

What in blue blazes?

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2019/jul/22/seagull-carries-away-dog-from-garden-devon

Seagulls gonna come
Poke you in the coconut
And they did
And they did

love these gobby fucks

Classic. Amazing name (“gull” is an all time syllable), great physique, cunning, resourceful, somehow both pack and solo creatures (pack until someone throws a chip), intuitively prey on the weakest link at the beach (if you get bullied by a seagull you deserve it). They are the venture capitalist, pull up your bootstraps and get working, Machiavellian animals of the world, and you know what, that is just the quality I like to see in a silly little flying beach creature.

None of this applies to the North American monstrosities though. Those mutants are 2x there normal size and need to be culled to get back to the cute, normal sized Australian form

when they swoop to grab my beach-food pie it's machiavellian

If you just gave them a bite like the natural order commands us to, then you wouldn’t be in that predicament

Give them an inch...

This was a nice little prog about a guy helping to protect a big gull colony on Flatholm Island:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ppvk/our-lives-series-7-one-man-and-his-island

wd watch a doc abt the gull who stole £300-worth of mini-cheddars

love these gobby fucks

― mark s, Sunday, 20 August 2023 09:48 (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

otm, wonderful bastards

main memories of gulls from living near the sea in late 90s / early 00s are

* ripping open our bin bags (this is pre-wheely bin)
* battling each-other to eat the vomit on the pavement in the early hours of a Sunday

hovering and swooping to snatch food from people's hands at the front is obviously all-time

There's been a herring gull nest on our roof the last two summers and I love them. OK, they chase our cats and they STARE st us if we have coffee outside, and we do not eat outside while they're around, but we have really enjoyed the six weeks of chick-raising shenanigans both years. Even the 4:30am wakeup for first breakfast, and then the 6:30am wakeup for second breakfast. When the chicks get older they bang on our velux windows and make the dogs bark. It's great! I do not think my neighbours think it is great, however.

im pretty sure what youve got there is actually a nest of hobbits

We live in a bungalow, so they are RIGHT THERE, over our heads, swooping around and scaring the shit out of us when they do their last circuit of the territory in the semi-dark. Sometimes they throw empty crab shells down at us from the roof and I think they do it on purpose, the scamps.

I don't think hobbits do that. And the songs would be worse.

full nest of golla id say based on second post, they wont be easy shifted

the most aggressive seagull food raids I ever saw was at the fish and chip shop above Towan beach in Newquay. These were the toughest seagulls I'd ever seen. Wave after wave of raids on the outdoor tables, not a fuck given about beered up tattooed gammons swinging rolled up newspapers in their direction or yelling at them to fuck off. Probably no more aggressive than any seagulls really, but I think they feel encouraged to get much bolder and more greedy when dealing with large crowds of landlubber tourists who aren't as used to them.

generally if you stare back at gulls they won't go for your food. I think since they mostly do surprise attacks if they know you see them they leave you alone. ymmv of course, they can be right bastards

the #1 factor a seagull is looking for in choosing an attack vector is the likelihood of the target dropping the food ime

Would love to be part of a seagull gang for a day. Just a bunch of lads and lasses hanging out at the local waiting for a sneaky chip and plotting schemes. Brings me back to the dystopia of high school social life

I was at Ocean City NJ earlier this year, and they've basically eliminated the gull problem by scaring them away from the boardwalk with hawks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88EAXPWn2sQ

Of course, now they have a hawk problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9yruQM1ggc

Of course, now they have a hawk problem.

That's what the pterodactyls are for.

Because the beaches in Oregon aren't wall-to-wall people eating junk food the seagulls around here aren't very interested in us. They just fly around looking for anything edible that's washed up on the shore, like crabs or the occasional fish. They're mostly chill and they are very graceful fliers. Swans aswimming may be lovely to look at, but they're deceptively evil and bad tempered.

Yoda has a take

SEAGULLS! (Stop it Now)

We only have two gull chicks this year. The other evening I was sitting out the front and my ancient cat wandered onto the driveway. She is so obviously extremely old and harmless, but the gulls weren't having it and dived on her anyway. It's interesting, though, they don't actually come into contact with her, just flap and make a load of noise right beside her and then fly away. Probably afraid she'd swipe them. Which she would have done when she was younger.

they are really pretty smart birds. they sid on my nieghboors roof for some reasobn

dud, they poop in people’s hair

The hate in this thread is so crazy!!

I'm with Aimless on the gull question: in my experience they're wild animals whose habitat is the natural beach where people sometimes go, but since it's not a LOT of people and it's not for most of the year, the gulls aren't habituated and aren't dependent on people for food. They're just livin, L-I-V-I-N. I think they're kind of majestic and pretty cool. (I also believe in the gorgeous beauty of pigeons -- have you looked at the iridescence of a pigeon lately??)

More people need to have grown up on Thy Friend, Obadiah imo.

their habitat is the landfill

when I lived on the south coast they would rip open binbags and swarm to peck at vomit on the pavement early on Sunday mornings, they didn't make a great impression

lol I said exactly the same thing two years ago