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Re: Gulls as Predators (on other birds)



Several notes:

First I’d like to point out that gulls are great at playing the “bad guy” in 
just about any habitat where they are found (don’t get me wrong… I’m a bit 
of a gullologist myself). Working with Piping Plovers in the past, I 
encountered many areas where wide expanses of beach that hosted breeding 
Piping Plovers were also favored places for folks to put their beach chairs 
and eat lunch. The leftover food brought in gulls, which then ate the eggs 
and or chicks of the plovers (human induced impact on plovers can be 
complicated).

Second: If you ever encounter neotropical migrants while on a pelagic 
cruise, watch them closely. They are often picked off by falcons Gulls and 
even Gannets (the gull and performing the capture with their bills). No 
wonder some are given a less than 1 year average est. lifespan.

Third: I well remember watching Dovekies being gulped down by Herring and 
Greater Black-backed gulls in MA.

Lastly: Gulls are not always the “bad guys”. I’ve seen many a Great Skua (or 
is it Skuas) take down a Great Black-back Gull and ectoparasitize it (make 
it cough up whatever it had just eaten). And I have also seen Laughing gulls 
get drowned and eaten by Jaegers.

Bon apetit (or in Spanish Provecho)

Paul Champlin
New Ellenton, SC

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