Seagulls

[bugmankeith]

Where I live its miles to the nearest pond or wetland. Generally there's many parks and open fields with lots of grass.

The last animal you'd expect to thrive here is a Seagull. Only water is from sprinklers or puddles when it rains, no sand dunes, rock crevices, oceans, or seafood.

Yet seagulls thrive here. I've seen them nesting in the middle of fields, which is nothing like natural nesting areas. The food they eat is garbage or dropped food from people, I've seen road kill part of the menu too. I can't understand how they survive shouldn't they be lacking important nutrients?
And although they get free handouts why would they choose to nest in such an unnatural area where some seagulls don't stay and nest near a beach?

Is it this an adaptation or a new subspecies of seagull since their habits are completely different from other seagulls of same species.

It reminds me of Canada Geese, all are wild, some learned to live here year round while others choose to migrate, both share the same ponds and lakes during warm weather and breed together.

 

[The Snark]

I'll second that question. I've seen them in the California lower central valley up to 50 miles from the coast or more.

 

[Bigboy]

Finding gulls inland is not uncommon. They are opportunistic and will live anywhere they can find food. The name "seagull" is a misnomer. There is no bird in North America called a seagull. There are gulls and they are a diverse group. If you begin to think of them only as gulls you will be less confused.

 

[MatthewM1]

I think BurgerKing Gull would be an appropriate name

Sent from my LG-P930 using Tapatalk 2

 

[pitbulllady]

We have a thriving population of seagulls where I live, at least 2 hours inland from the Atlantic, and nowhere near any other large bodies of water...but, our county is also home to one of the largest active landfills in the United States, and that is what attracted the gulls and is keeping them here. They're scavengers, and there is nowhere better to hang out if you're a scavenger than a landfill! I don't have access to the landfill itself, but I have been told by employees that work there that gulls are nesting there on the grounds, not even bothering to move back to the coast for breeding season.

pitbulllady

 

[bugmankeith]

So would you all say gulls that stay near landfills are smarter? But is all that garbage healthy or do they ingest foreign objects aswell?

 

[Bigboy]

It isn't a matter of intelligence it is opportunism. If you build it, they will come. Adapt, migrate or die are the supreme laws of nature. Where there is the possibility of survival you will find an organism trying to survive.

 

[The Snark]

So would you all say gulls that stay near landfills are smarter? But is all that garbage healthy or do they ingest foreign objects aswell?

My source is basically from gossip over the years, as from fishermen, but it is held the gull has the digestive system of an industrial garbage disposal. It is well established they can eat food that is so rotten it would gag a maggot. Bits of weeks old sea detritus as shell fish, along with bits of shell, seem to be a gull's gourmet feast.
There is also some scientific data on the random death of gulls caused by ingesting plastic. The Telonicher Marine lab (Humboldt State University) did a series of autopsy's on dead gulls found in the surrounding environs some years back.

 

[Lucidd]

I used to work across the street from a landfill... and it was an hour and a half away from the shore. The building I worked in constantly had trash scattered on the top of it, as well as the surrounding parking lot, from seagulls bringing food containers over solid ground and dropping them to open them, the same way they crack open clam shells. Pretty interesting sight.

Even the seagulls on the shore eat trash as a daily part of their diet.
I have a video I took of a seagull at the beach, perched on a trash barrel and pulling garbage out and tossing it all over the place to find food. That stuff seems to happen even when they have plenty of their "natural diet" around. My very amateur guess is that it's easier to find food that is ready to eat in garbage... considering I've seen many seagulls fight over food and some can swoop down and steal the prey another seagull has dropped.

 

[spiderman5471]

I'll second that question. I've seen them in the California lower central valley up to 50 miles from the coast or more.

ill agree i see them thriving at walmart craze really