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Re: Gulls as Predators



At 12:36 PM 4/1/2001 -0400, you wrote:
>Some time ago there were a number of postings to the listserv on the subject
>of gulls as predators.  As I recall these all involved gulls attacking
>waterfowl in the water, and in one case, an owl sitting on an ice floe.
>Yesterday I observed a lone Ring-billed Gull pursuing a Kingfisher, which was
>frantically trying to evade it.  Fortunately, it was able to reach the safety
>of a tree and the gull veered off.  Has anyone else observed gulls pursuing
>landbirds on the wing?  Does anyone have any idea of how a gull would be able
>to successfully capture a landbird in flight, since it lacks the talons of a
>bird of prey?

Was the kingfisher carrying a fish?  Gulls do try to steal prey from other 
birds.  Sort of like their near cousins, the jaegers.

Norm

************************************************
Norman Budnitz          919-684-3592 (day)
nbudnitz@duke.edu       919-383-0553 (eve)
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(work)  Department of Biology, Duke University
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