Hi, I am a bit bewildered by the goings on of this sea bird , my wife noticed this happening which did upset her, a sea gull picked up a blue tit banged it on the head with its beak the tossed it about before swallowing it whole. Q. are they changing there eating habits because we now have bins instead of bags for rubbish .
I hope to see a variety of different species over the next few months either in this garden or at my place of work where I have set up a wild bird food centre
Hi dunraffin, Great Black Backed Gulls, Lesser Black Backed gulls and Herring Gulls are all renowned for taking small birds especially young chicks and fledgelings, its just a part of their feeding habbits and the way mother nature intended i'm afraid.
Feed The Birds....not the cats!!!!
I know....my spelling's crap !!
dunraffin said:Q. are they changing there eating habits because we now have bins instead of bags for rubbish .
Hi dunraffin,
Gulls are great opportunists and probably will change eating habits according to local circumstances. Bin bags are easy food sources as they are easily pecked through, but if bins are used, they have to look elsewhere for easy meals - eg young birds or fish?
Regards, Claire
"The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom" - Wlliam Blake
Hi dunraffin
They showed Great Black-backed Gulls and Herring Gulls trying to grab Puffins on Springwatch, and although these gulls do feed in large numbers on refuse sites, they will take fledglings, young chicks and most other smaller birds they can catch, especially while they are breeding themselves and have hungry chicks of their own to feed.
Best wishes Chris
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WE HAVE FLOCKS OF GULLS HERE THIS YEAR. THEIR NUMBERS HAVE REALLY INCREASED. THEY ATTACK OUR COMMON BUZZARDS. WHY ARE THEY ALL MOVING IN LAND?
Following on from this....A Lesser Blacked at my Local Nature Reserve during late spring / early summer was watching a female mallard with 6 / 7 chicks, it calmly took one, desptached it and then another and another leaving them all and not eating one of them.
Its just part of what the larger gulls do.