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Despite living in close proximity to the sea for some time, this year is the first time seagulls have chosen to raise a chick on my / my neighbours' roof. It spent a few hours a few weeks ago (when it was tiny) in my front garden but the parents put it back on the chimney. Lately it's been wandering around my neighbours' flat roof above their kitchen.
I go out into the back garden for a beer after work this evening and it's down there, noodling about like it owns the place. We're quite fond of it now but the garden is walled and there's no way it can get itself back on the roof, and it's too big for its parents to drag it back up there now.
Any STW'ers with seagull raising experience? Do we just have to wait for the thing to figure out how to use its wings and fly out?
Spatchcock?
Leave it, parents will look after it and it'll be off in a week or two
Yeah, they're a good size, they'll feed a couple of you easily. Don't skin but slide garlic and tarragon butter under the skin, massage gently and let it absorb for an hour, then low and slow on the bbq before finishing breast down in a blistering hot skillet (or your pizza oven assuming it's not one of those pokey ooni things.)
That or leave it be and you'll discover how it got down without hurting itself soon enough.
This is what gull fledglings do. They fall ungracefully out of the nest and wander around on the ground for a few days. It'll eventually fly off. See Stage 4 https://wildlifeambulance.org/advice/gulls/
Cricket bat and do the honorable thing.
Otherwise it will be stealing chips and attacking toddlers in no time.
Won't you think of the children!
Do we just have to wait for the thing to figure out how to use its wings and fly out?
Pretty much.
You can't do much to them as they're a protected species. So cooking it is out!
Borrow a cat.
Olive oil, garlic, shallots and little chilli..... tastes like salty chicken
5 iron.
Will it fit into one of those things people use to throw tennis balls for their dogs? Lob it back onto the roof. Probably won't hurt it if you miss*
*within reason. it'll survive the fall but probably won't tolerate being fired into a wall.
Keep an eye open for the mother, if you're out in the garden the same time as the chick. The mother WILL attack you for being around 50 feet away from the chick.
It's a regular thing in my street. The gulls nest on the town hall roof, chicks descend and wander the streets, prompting the mothers to dive bomb passers by. The faecal attacks are quite voluminous (and quite funny, watching from my living room)
Name it Steven
Was that meant to be to the tune/rhythm of 'rat in my kitchen'?
Start a colony..no wait..try to stop it Steven starting a colony.
The conlony of..Steven.
Go to the fishmonger, get some scraps.
Then throw the scraps into your neighbours garden.
.
Problem as they say...Solved.
The faecal attacks are quite voluminous (and quite funny, watching from my living room)
Seems that gulls will take a dislike to pretty much any random object and shit-bomb it for no obvious reason. Including cars, they’ll pick one and cover it with crap, writhe the ones either side virtually untouched. I get to see it happen a lot, ‘cos we’ve got lots and lots of cars parked in the open. Dunno what they had against this particular Peugeot, other than it’s a Peugeot…
Go to the fishmonger, get some scraps.
Then throw the scraps into your neighbours garden
I'm glad I don't live next to you.
If you've got a roller coaster handy, gently coax it back to its nest.
tough one. may look cute now but will grow into a shouty chip stealing bastard.
Repost thread with "Moral Dilemma" as a prefix?
yes I am aware the cuteness is temporary and it will soon be ripping open bin bags in the street and stabbing pigeons with its beak.
The parents have been remarkably tolerant actually, they have only dive bombed my youngest child 🙂
But the guano is an issue. My neighbours' roof looks like Bass Rock.
Name it Stephen, or you’ll be Under Siege from the parents.
Stop moaning. I currently have 3 and a carpet of guano
But seriously put water down for it in this heat
Buy a fox... Wait 15 minutes
Seriously, what is the point in seagulls? Nothing eats them, they're worse than dugs in the annoyance stakes! 🤣
Seriously, what is the point in seagulls? Nothing eats them, they’re worse than dugs in the annoyance stakes! 🤣
They remove every trace of food within 6 seconds of hitting the ground, imagine a world where this didn't happen, fast food drive throughs would be overrun with rats and foxes, pigeons would rule the sky and multiply to the point of blocking out the sun, it would be just dark with a carpet of rats around McDonalds.
Steven will eventually join the great crusade to keep our ground free of rat food, and thus save humanity from being overrun by disease carrying rodents.
Rats, pigeons and and foxes would be preferable! 🤣
In the words of my son "my opinion on seagulls has completely changed having this chick growing up here." Don't get me wrong, I will never forgive the seagull who nicked a fresh mcdonalds cheeseburger right out of my hands after I had worked an 8 hour shift and was absolutely starving... but they are pretty competent buggers.
It's now flapping its wings and jumping up onto stuff, I reckon it will be flying in a day or two. We seem to have an uneasy truce with the parents. Perhaps the know we've put down water for it and have kept our dog at bay...
Name it Steven
👏👏
Can't believe no-one's pointed out there's no such thing as a seagull.
Like saying there's no such thing as a bike.
Can’t believe no-one’s pointed out there’s no such thing as a seagull.
As above, what kind of gull is it?
I don't know what kind, looks like a regular seagull? Your everyday seaside hooligan seagull type.
One of these i expect
Pacific gull, Larus pacificus
Belcher's gull, Larus belcheri
Olrog's gull, Larus atlanticus
Black-tailed gull, Larus crassirostris
Heermann's gull, Larus heermanni
Common gull or mew gull, Larus canus
Short-billed gull, Larus brachyrhynchus
Ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis
California gull, Larus californicus
Great black-backed gull, Larus marinus
Kelp gull, Larus dominicanus (called "southern black-backed gull" or "karoro" in New Zealand)
Cape gull, Larus dominicanus vetula
Glaucous-winged gull, Larus glaucescens
Western gull, Larus occidentalis
Yellow-footed gull, Larus livens
Glaucous gull, Larus hyperboreus
Iceland gull, Larus glaucoides
Kumlien's gull, Larus glaucoides kumlieni
Thayer's gull, Larus glaucoides thayeri
European herring gull, Larus argentatus
American herring gull, Larus smithsonianus
Caspian gull, Larus cachinnans
Yellow-legged gull, Larus michahellis
East Siberian herring gull, Larus vegae
Armenian gull, Larus armenicus
Slaty-backed gull, Larus schistisagus
Lesser black-backed gull, Larus fuscus
Heuglin's gull, Larus fuscus heuglini
^^^ you missed out
Shitehawk
Pacific gull, Larus pacificus
Belcher’s gull, Larus belcheri
Olrog’s gull, Larus atlanticus
Black-tailed gull, Larus crassirostris
Heermann’s gull, Larus heermanni
Common gull or mew gull, Larus canus
Short-billed gull, Larus brachyrhynchus
Ring-billed gull, Larus delawarensis
California gull, Larus californicus
Great black-backed gull, Larus marinus
Kelp gull, Larus dominicanus (called “southern black-backed gull” or “karoro” in New Zealand)
Cape gull, Larus dominicanus vetula
Glaucous-winged gull, Larus glaucescens
Western gull, Larus occidentalis
Yellow-footed gull, Larus livens
Glaucous gull, Larus hyperboreus
Iceland gull, Larus glaucoides
Kumlien’s gull, Larus glaucoides kumlieni
Thayer’s gull, Larus glaucoides thayeri
European herring gull, Larus argentatus
American herring gull, Larus smithsonianus
Caspian gull, Larus cachinnans
Yellow-legged gull, Larus michahellis
East Siberian herring gull, Larus vegae
Armenian gull, Larus armenicus
Slaty-backed gull, Larus schistisagus
Lesser black-backed gull, Larus fuscus
Heuglin’s gull, Larus fuscus heuglini
You missed out the black headed gull. Chroicocephalus McDonaldii
The seagull chick has sadly not lived through the night 🙁
RIP Stephen
Deepest sympathies etc etc
I assume from your down turned emoji that you didn't eat it.
Still problem solved eh and now you may know why the parents weren't bothered, quite likely they realised it was doomed.
Would you like 3 more?
The seagull chick has sadly not lived through the night 🙁
What happened?
We don't know what happened, we just went out in the garden first thing and it was lying dead at the edge of one of our flower beds. A tiny bit of blood on its neck but none of the carnage - feathers all over the place etc. - you'd expect from a fox or cat attack. Maybe another adult seagull went for it.
All a bit sad and I wish I had tried to get it back on the roof. Perhaps it would have just ended up in our garden again anyway.
That is indeed sad news. It is very easy to berate gulls in urban environments but it's worth pointing out that herring gulls in particular (the most likely protagonist in this tale) are in decline. We might not love them but we will miss them when they've gone
We have lots in our street and every year the pitchforks are out but I'm glad to say reason has prevailed and after a couple of weeks calm is restored.
What happened?
It's just resting
vintagewino
Free Member
We don’t know what happened, we just went out in the garden first thing and it was lying dead at the edge of one of our flower beds. A tiny bit of blood on its neck but none of the carnage – feathers all over the place etc. – you’d expect from a fox or cat attack. Maybe another adult seagull went for it.All a bit sad and I wish I had tried to get it back on the roof. Perhaps it would have just ended up in our garden again anyway.
A fox would have been off with it, cubs to feed this time of year, more likely another gull or next doors cat, you did the right thing by leaving it, the parents normally protect and feed at that point, but gull chick survival is patchy at best, just nature, humans have it easy but moan the most.
I saw a huge seagull today. It was big enough to be a D gull. But not quite big enough to be an eagle.
I had a young pigeon hiding in bushes and behind the shed for a couple of days, the dog found it fascinating, she just stared at it. The bird was quite characterful.
We heard a bit of a commotion during the night, no sign of it today. Just a pile of feathers in the garden, presumably the noise was just it flapping to take off and the feathers where just the last of its baby feathers.