Why are seagulls such a pain?!

[Fillyfrog]

I actually think seagulls are the bane of most seaside resorts. We went to Llandudno in north Wales today, it's such a lovely place and been a favourite for many years. But today the seagulls were so awful, I saw countless people getting their food stolen from them to the point where instead of risking to eat our picnic on the front we ate it in the car! Some of the gulls are absolutely massive, I saw one steal a full ice cream from a toddler in her pram and I feel like it must have hurt, she was beside herself. They seemed worse than any other time I've been there.

Why do they do this? Do they not have enough food to eat? I know tourists must drop litter and food etc and I often think of seagulls like, eating some chips someone's dropped on the floor but when did it evolve to swooping in for people's sandwiches?! I can't imagine living somewhere seasidey with them there all the time 🙈

(light hearted thread)

Because some very silly wankbadgers insist on feeding them. Last time I went to Llandudno on a trip with some Uni friends, we all got fish and chips and one of my lovely but rather silly and sometimes annoying friends started feeding them chips. In spite of the signs all around saying not to.

That is a face only a mother would love.

Hard stare steely eyes narrowing in on its prey. Beak slightly ajar ready to peck the next unsuspecting poor soul. Stance ready to pounce.

Shudders.

I opened this thread in the hope I would see this.

Despite having been, literally, poked in the coconut by a seagull, I was more distressed by the cause.

Where I used to work there were nesting seagulls, and one year they were disturbed and two of the young birds ended up out of the nest and wandering around the courtyard. It was a very hot summer, so we had the door open and they'd wander in and out, I'd put water out for them, I have a video of them bathing themselves.

The people on the opposite corner seemed to go out of their way to wind up the adults - saw them up on a balcony with a plank of wood on a rope swinging it round at them. The adults ended up attacking people, complaints were made and I came to work one morning and the young birds were gone. I suspect they were killed.

I must be a gull's mum then!

Interesting, though. Do you think that only cute fluffy big-eyed animals are worthy of love?

No I don’t think that 🤔

I can see your personality is quite similar - attacking.

Ad hominem, oh dear...

Ah great, so now it isn't enough not to feed them, we can't even eat in front of them : /

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/24/gulls-choose-what-to-eat-by-watching-humans-study-suggests

Gulls are incredibly intelligent birds. So yeah they will be watching you to see what’s best to eat.

Why waste energy when they can watch? Doesn’t mean you really have to stop eating infront of them it just means you need to be on your guard if you’re prepared to do so

Well, it helps them suss which ones are the best to blag from the newsagents.

That’s true but that does make me laugh. Watching them walk in the shops and pinch a packet of crisps.

I read an article quite a few years ago, about herring gulls, which was about how very clever they are. A team of scientists got a building in an area with lots of them.

They went out and did one of three things: fed them, ignored them, or chased them and threw things towards them (not at them). They remembered the feeders quickly and would flock round them.

They soon learned to ignore the ignorers.

They learned very quickly to leg it when the nasty ones came out.

They went back a few years later and the gulls remembered the nasty ones and either scarpered, or dive bombed them.

The nasty ones got dressed up, with fake beards, bright clothes and big hats - the gulls still recognised them!

They are devious thieves. I was walking in the shopping precinct in Worthing and a guy was coming the other way eating a toastie. A gull swooped and took it right out of his hand then swooped into a mobile phone shop to eat it. Another one flew in to get it off the first gull and they proceeded to have an almighty scrap in the doorway while the customers on the inside watched on. Also you'll see them lined up next to a family with a picnic on the beach. There will be four or five gulls standing in a line, looking really shifty and waiting for their moment to swoop. The buggers.

We were on holiday in St Ives, watched someone come out of an ice cream shop with ice cream in a cone. Seagull swooped down out of nowhere, neatly scooped the ice cream off the cone, just left the person standing there with an empty cone.

The precision was amazing.

@EilonwyWithRedGoldHair 🤣🤣 You're right. They have the precision of a professional sniper.