Have seagulls been particularly loud where you live lately? Here's why
Image: Sam Boal Image: Sam Boal IF YOU’VE BEEN woken up by the early-morning squawking of seagulls over the past few months, you might be wondering – hang on, are there more of them around the place? And is there anything that can be done about that noise?
Due to calls for the cull of seagulls which have cropped up over the years, and the fact you won’t have to go far on a Dublin city street before you spot a herring gull attacking a bin bag , you might presume that there are more herring gulls than ever before.“Contrary to what people believe, the population has declined dramatically – by over 90% in the course of 30 years,” said Hatch. The herring gull was on a red list of the majorly threatened species in Ireland.
Once the young gulls are able to fend for themselves, which should be in a few weeks, that loud communication between parent and child will reduce.Another aspect to all this is the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the need to work from home, human presence in urban areas has dramatically reduced. Hatch suspects Covid has influenced herring gulls’ behaviour to some degree.
Herring gulls are also very protective of their offspring, so if they feel threatened by a human they will make “a lot of noise to scare off potential predators”, said Hatch. Gulls are protected wildlife – harming them is a criminal offence. However, it is possible for the Minister over the National Parks and Wildlife Service to give licences to capture and humanely kill a protected wildlife bird for “such educational, scientific or other purposes as shall be so specified”.
Though disturbing them is technically illegal, Hatch said that these laws are “not effectively enforced”. Gulls can be aggressive to defend their chicks – and can even draw blood. “We need to have a more healthy respect for them,” said Hatch. “Don’t become over familiar with them. Don’t feed gulls so that gull don’t associate certain places with food.”
Over in Ocean City in New Jersey in the US, birds of prey are used to keep gulls in check. Here in Ireland, Hatch said that birds of prey like peregrine falcons and buzzards were once more prevalent, but their populations have declined . “I think what’s really needed is the issue of food availability and reducing that and basically trying to support seagulls, which are endangered species, into more appropriate habitats.”
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