New birds in town (university, office, station)

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by Hopes

Are they loud?

Not really. They were generally pretty calm and sedate, as if they too were just waiting out the winter before they could get back to their normal gull-y business.

[greg42]

Originally Posted by LIRefugee

Not really. They were generally pretty calm and sedate, as if they too were just waiting out the winter before they could get back to their normal gull-y business.

In my experience a bunch of gulls standing around are not usually noisy. But I'm not really used to these northern ones which may be different sometimes. I've only really experienced big groups of gulls recently in Florida. Seems that much of the behavior is similar though.

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by greg42

In my experience a bunch of gulls standing around are not usually noisy. But I'm not really used to these northern ones which may be different sometimes. I've only really experienced big groups of gulls recently in Florida. Seems that much of the behavior is similar though.

Agreed. If Hopes or someone else wants some noisy gulls, they just need to toss over some food.

[Hopes]

I don't want noisy gulls. I was just wondering. I wouldn't feed them because I'd feel unfair since there is no way to feed all of them.

[Buckeye Burgher]

Huh. I wondered why all of the seagulls were hanging out in the parking lots near Century III Mall.
Had never seen them around here before.

I had lived in Toledo where they could be quite annoying.
Whatever you were carrying out of a store, they were convinced it was for them,
and they'd repeated swoop down after it until you got it safely in the trunk.

[SteelCityRising]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I don't want noisy gulls. I was just wondering. I wouldn't feed them because I'd feel unfair since there is no way to feed all of them.

It can be quite scary to feed gulls. In August 2012 while vacationing in the Outer Banks we ate at Sonic. While parked and eating tater tots one lonely gull came wandering over next to my car door and looked at me, begging and pleading. I thought "poor little guy" and tossed a tater tot his way. Before I knew it I was quickly pulling up my window as an entire flock of the cackling things descended upon my sedan like something out of a horror movie!

[wpipkins2]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It can be quite scary to feed gulls. In August 2012 while vacationing in the Outer Banks we ate at Sonic. While parked and eating tater tots one lonely gull came wandering over next to my car door and looked at me, begging and pleading. I thought "poor little guy" and tossed a tater tot his way. Before I knew it I was quickly pulling up my window as an entire flock of the cackling things descended upon my sedan like something out of a horror movie!

That sounds a lot like Market Square in the 90s. If you feed one pigeon, look out overhead.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I don't want noisy gulls. I was just wondering. I wouldn't feed them because I'd feel unfair since there is no way to feed all of them.

They can be noisy at times, but nowhere near what the crows are.

[LIRefugee]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

It can be quite scary to feed gulls. In August 2012 while vacationing in the Outer Banks we ate at Sonic. While parked and eating tater tots one lonely gull came wandering over next to my car door and looked at me, begging and pleading. I thought "poor little guy" and tossed a tater tot his way. Before I knew it I was quickly pulling up my window as an entire flock of the cackling things descended upon my sedan like something out of a horror movie!

I once observed this while feeding a seagull, I forget where or when. The instant the bird received a morsel of food, he began calling out, attracting all sorts of other seagulls to the spot. I was fascinated to watch as one gull became quite the crowd. Obviously, the seagull was crying out "Food here!" in seagullese so that its comrades would know where they could get some grub.

These days I never feed any birds, no matter how much they may beg. It does more harm than good in that it teaches the birds to view humans as a food source, creating a dependency, and the food itself is unlikely to be nutritiously appropriate.

[Buckeye Burgher]

A Seagull vs. a Crow for a McDonald's French Fry is an evenly matched heavyweight battle for the ages!