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What have seagulls got against herons?


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You wouldn't want an albatross over your head for very long, depending on what it had been eating of course.

 

The reference is to a sketch in the comedy series 'Monty Python's Flying Circus' in which a cinema usherette emerges during the interval carrying a sales tray on which, instead of the expected ices and popcorn, is a dead albatross.

Ah thank you must have missed that one or age has caught up with me!!!

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Cycling across Australia a couple of years back I was constantly attacked and "driven off" by magpies and a much smaller bird. Being 6'2" and on a push bike didn't deter them. Also saw several times these little birds chasing crows and even an eagle one time.

 

But being dive bombed by magpies was not pleasant and you needed your helmet on or they would draw blood.

 

Anyone seen that you tube when some kids fed the gulls laxative? People really had to clear the area as they just got covered in crap.

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I used to live on an island in Puget Sound. I had seven acres on the waterfront of a bay and had a small lagoon on my property where many birds would feed on the fish in the lagoon. Bald Eagles nested in the trees across the bay, and smaller birds nested in the trees near my property. Any time an eagle, hawk, falcon or other large bird would fly near the small birds' nesting trees, swarms of small birds would take to the air and attack the larger birds to drive them away. The bigger birds didn't have a chance. It was like fighter planes vs a bomber; the small birds were much faster and more aerodynamic and the best the big birds could do is simply try to escape.

 

Everyone has seen films of eagles gracefully scooping fish from the ocean. Well, that is learned behavior, it doesn't come naturally. The eagles across the bay were breeders and there were constantly young eagles flying around my front yard. It was really quite funny to see them learning to fish. They would crash into the water and tumble and then have to take off soaking wet - it was really quite funny.

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  • 1 month later...

Watched a gull catch and kill a feral pigeon, then rip it to bits and eat it at the back of the bar a couple of weeks ago. Nature in all it's gory glory.

 

Edited to add: Outside the back door, obviously, it couldn't have got inside, no ID.

Edited by twbm
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You should see the flying vermin round here scarper when the resident red kites take to the air. Gulls, wood pigeons etc all feck orf in short order.

I suspect it is more because they have an instinct for raptor shapes. KItes are mainly carrion eaters or take small prey. What you call flying vermin (strange description) aren't small enough to be taken by a kite.

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Flying vermin is a term used in local council, or pest control offices. The particular birds covered are pigeons (wood and town) gulls of most varieties , and in some areas starlings, though much less in the last few years. These animals disfigure buildings, and spread all manner of infections. Again it's the interface between man and animal. Sometimes I suspect it's the other way round. But there you have it

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Flying vermin is a term used in local council, or pest control offices. The particular birds covered are pigeons (wood and town) gulls of most varieties , and in some areas starlings, though much less in the last few years. These animals disfigure buildings, and spread all manner of infections. Again it's the interface between man and animal. Sometimes I suspect it's the other way round. But there you have it

Interesting.

 

Starlings aren't covered by the general license so pest control would need to apply for a specific license and offer proof of the need (damage to crops etc or public Health and safety).

 

Pigeons (feral and wood) are covered by the general license but again must be for provable reasons mentioned above.

 

The only gulls covered by the general license are Lesser Black backed again with the same caveats of needing if challenged proof of the reasons.

 

Herring Gulls can under general license have their eggs taken nests destroyed.

 

Black Headed and Common Gulls are not covered by the general license and would be unlikely to get a specific license.

 

All control must be under specific control of welfare and humanity regulations.

 

Hardly in my opinion vermin compare the protection of even those under general license to say rats. That was why I thought "flying vermin" was a strange description.

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