"Sea Gulls" Topic

Dear List

Yesterday Dot and I were busy running errands and taking care of things and so we broke our no-junk food rule and went to McDonalds because we just wanted to shovel in some calories. Still it wasn't bad. I'd prefer Wendy's and we like Roy Rodgers best, but beggars can't be choosers/. We have none of those outlets near here.

Anyway there are always about 300 sea-gulls hanging around the parking lot (It's a common lot with a medium sized mall, and It was cold so I bought an extra small bag of French fries to throw out to them. They gather there because EVERYONE throws out their leftovers and the gulls devour it in about three seconds.

Well Yesterday was no exception and I threw out my left over fries, plus the bits of lettuce in the big mac box and the bag, and they were all over it like it was the first meal they'd seen in years. While we were sitting there three cars did the same, and a fourth car pulled up. The woman had two huge bags of I guess stale bread, all torn up into se-gull sized bits, and tossed it out of the window. Here black car vanished in a cloud of white and grey wings and feathers, and as she drove off she dumped a few more bags, each of which was set upon. I fully expected to see her and her passanger riding away on the frame. it looked like the gulls were going to tear the body off.

But perhaps the most hilarious thing was the gull that perched on my hood and stared at me eating the Big Mac as if to say "You gonna eat ALL of that mac? You know.. have you looked in a mirror lately-- looking at you you don't need it!" the gulls lingered around after we fed them, as if one of them was saying to the other "I tell ya Mabel, I know they've got more food in there, and if we just wait…." However they were getting NONE of my hot apple pies.

Of course I don't know how kind we are being to these little creatures. I just wonder after a steady diet of French fries what their arteries look like! They doo seem to have trouble getting airborne, like they're struggling. I can hear them gasping and saying Oh my God! Oh My God! This is the big one Esmerelda…" as the struggle to get aloft.

But yaknow… I never see a dead one. Oh now and then you see one that got squashed by a car, rarely, but you never see one laying there peacefully like he just keeled over in his sleep while his friends and family were singing "Swing Low, sweet chariot…."

I suspect they just grow to enormous size and carry off cows and sheep.

Otto

The enormous ones end up in Whitby on the North-East coast of England. I have never seen seagulls as large and aggressive as the Whitby gulls.

Their diet seems to be almost one hundred percent fish and chips. Proper British seaside fish and chips. And we are talking big, fat chips, not the rather pathetic, skinny fries that McDonalds do!

Cool, I love the sound of gulls 😉

Otto, I commend you for your kindness to animals. You sound like a good person. Compassion for animals is one of those things that defines a person's character. Well done.

Years ago I helped a friend take trash to the dump, biggest seagulls I ever saw, half of them could not even fly – half of them did not seem able to fly and they simply waddled from one trash pile to the next.

On the boardwalk I see idiots feeding the wretched things – I go to a safe distance and wait a couple minutes for the "carp" to start flying. Seagulls always seem to defecate while eating or shorting after.

Where I live in the Sierra foothills, the Birds of Junk are mostly ravens. Too far from the coast for gulls, unless one was napping and caught a bad wind over the hills.

I think gulls get mugged by the ravens. Even hawks get mugged by ravens (watched that just yesterday on the way to town).

One of the local towns has outlawed feeding the birds. Seems the birds would not put up with being potty trained.

Seen a few gulls around my neck of the woods. Mainly around landfills or being blown off course from some of the lakes up north of us. saw some not that long ago flying above a shopping mall parking lot near Cincinnati.

They get lots of cardio, so I doubt the occasional snack is too bad for them.

Nice of you to share.

Good to hear Roy's hasn't gone belly up. I used to love them, and miss them.

Dear List

One of my friends on the Society of Daisy Yahoo Group, when I posted this good naturedly told me that giving the birds a steady diet of bread is not cood for them. They need the small fish, sea-shells and crabs they get from the beach and while it won't really affect their circulation it will give them bent wing syndrome which means they can't fly or insulate themselves well.

I will have to not find out what I can mix with the bread… or the leftovers to help. I have no doubt he will tell me "Your Apple pies."

By the way, I live out in the country in Sussex County NJ. about 80 miles from the coast. Around here the coyotes will eat anything.

I also feed the deer and others.

the bears do quite well on my neighbors garbage. I haul mine off to the dump when I get it.

Otto

Sorry, but seagulls are not my friends. They may be picturesque and cute at the sea shore but they are just dangerous here at the airport I work at. I marshalled one of our Airbus' in this summer after a rather large flock decided to take off as it was landing. We counted over 29 hits.

Here in White Rock, there are lots of Seagulls. They nest on roofs and start squawking when the sun comes up. In the winter that's ok but at 4:30 in the summer…..
There are lots of fish and chip shops on the Beach and everyone feeds them!

I used to think that seagulls did not appear till the invention of the twinkie. In the last decade I have taken up walking on the beach after the summer season (and thus the endless buffet for seagulls on the boardwalk is closed) and was amused to see them catching clams and crabs. The clams are the most interesting, the birds move their feet up and down in the water to bring the clams up from under the sand.

If you want scenes reminiscent of "The Birds", spread a garbage bag (or 3 ;-) full of stale popcorn in your intended target parking lot… ;-)

Add some orange peels for a show (can't eat them but will fight until they get away and drop it and start all over)

I grew up (somewhat) in Portland, Maine. Always tons of gulls around. Their purpose in life is the same as that of vultures: cleanup to keep mother nature looking pristeen. If they're fed, then they don't take their job seriously. You're not doing anything or anybody a favor by feeding them.
Bob

Here's a good question:

Has anybody eaten sea gull? i.e. are they edible? Tasty?
LOL

Dear Zephyr1

I am told… I AM TOLD (for I have never eaten one myself, that they are terrible, mitigated by the fact that there is so little meat on them that the taste doesn't last for long.

Of course… why would you want to.

Otto

A good story Otto. : )

I've also been told bread isn't good for birds. At least french fries are a vegetable. But with seagulls seeming to be scavengers, they'll probably eat most anything.

Anybody ever fed alka-seltzer to seagulls? Are the exploding bird stories true?

Maybe if you fed them mentos and coca cola.

Well the saga of the birds continues. I had to go to the doctor today for my right elbow which I injured painting figures, and later hauling some stuff around. Hurt like hell for a month and isn't going away. Doctor says tendonitis.

Anyway we had planned to take a fast lunch at McDonalds again today and took out a "birdie bundle" we had been saving of bits of fat from meat, gristle, some veggies that were left over, bits of this and that which while technically garbage weren't disgusting, some old bacon fat, some left over fish and some its and bits of meals we didn't want to get creative with. Amounted to about a sphere the sixe of a cantaloupe. Oh yes, some cantaloupe was in there too!

So we went down to Mc D's and had our sandwich because we had a lot to do, and this time I got out of the car with the birdie bag in my hand. We were about 100 yards from the large area of birds. As I moved to about 10 feet from the car the birds noticed something was up as I was standing there fumbling with knot and they started to move.

wildly I tore at the bag to open it up and dump its contest and run the 10 yards to the car before the cloud of wings and feathers were upon me, and I just got inside in time to see them descend on the "birdie ball" and 1 minute later, not one shred of gristle, fat, vegetable, or cantaloupe was to be seen. They must have liked it, many of there sat there staring at me as I ate my sandwich.

I'm convinced if you dumped a body there they'd pick it clean in half an hour.

Hmmm… so if here actually is a zombie attack, I can imagine a horde of them devoured by swarming se-gulls.

Maybe there ARE zombies but the gulls and vultures get them.

Humans should feed birds very sparingly. This activity causes all sorts of health issues for them. For instance, here in Oz many well-intentioned but ignorant people, knowing that magpies (no relation to the European species of the same common name) are carnivorous, feed them straight mince-meat, but it lacks many essential nutrients they obtain from their insectivorous diet and leads to terrible deformities, especially of the beak; e.g. baby birds born with rubbery beaks or parts of the beak missing.