Seagulls Eating Starlings?

[Andrew Boyd]

I work in Dartford, about 1/2 mile away from the local dump off Thames Road. A few months ago they installed a speaker system broadcasting the distress calls of Gulls to keep them away. Seems to work as the gulls tend to now stay in the area I work.

At this time of year we get large flocks of Starlings gathering, I assume before their flight south.

Just been outside and witnessed a Common Gull chasing a Starling and catching it, they dropped out of sight so assume the starling became lunch.

The particular Starling seemed to be flying Ok but the Gull must have noticed it was weaker then the others, I guess that when your a bird nothing makes you fly faster then trying to escape with your life!

 

Anyone seen this or anything like it?

[blindog]

Most likely that the Starling had found a bit oh food and the Common Gull was trying to get it from it,Although i have seen Herring and GBB gulls kill and eat other birds ,once seen a GBB kill a Water Rail that flew off the boat i work on ,forced it into the sea and killed it.

Never seen C Gull kill another bird .

[hembo]

we had the local rubbish tip close completely down here and for a few months the seaguls behaved very aggressivly ,i would say they that it was well wiithin their means to kill for food rather than scavenge.

[ayjay]

At this time of year we get large flocks of Starlings gathering, I assume before their flight south.

 

Wrong assumption, they've arrived where they were going, i.e. here; many Starlings come over here for the winter.

 

It's likely to have been chased for food as has already been said, but anything's possible with birds. I'm not aware that Common gulls (which are not particularly common BTW) are especially known as being predatory.

 

As far as seeing anything similar, there's a report here (5th Nov) of a Great Black Backed Gull drowning a Shag.

[Alan Stubbs]

Whilst I was at Trearddur Bay in Holyhead, I saw 4 herring gulls bullying a pair of ravens who were trying to roost on the cliffs.

 

The ravens were mature and far larger than the individual gulls, but although ravens have a reputation for 'playfulness' I couldn't get the thought out of my mind that the gulls were actually winning this dispute, indeed after less than 20 minutes the ravens appeared to have been driven off towards the Outbound Centre, only returning during the late afternoon.

 

All in all it was a brilliant week for bird watching. I saw my first ever Chough on the cliffs overlooking South Stacks, I saw my first ever Black Kite near Cader Idris and puffins, gannets and guillemots galore.

 

Back on thread....In Kent the majority of starlings are resident, and they flock up to roost in huge numbers in trees around the Thames corridor. A good example is the green opposite St Paul's Cathedral, there are about 6 trees and a study a few years back had the roost numbered at over 5000 birds. The noise drowned out the rush hour traffic.

 

It's probable that the gull would pick off the weak member of a flock - they are quite predatory as birds and don't merely scavenge carrion.

Edited November 11, 2005 by Alan Stubbs

[blindog]

We have about 50 Stalings on board at the moment ,i had one that was ringed in Finland last year ,also the North Sea Bird Club have had them on different instalations ringed in Latvia and quite a few other countries.

 

Herring Gulls and Black Backed Gulls will attack and kill many other birds including Puffins and Auks out here but at this time of year many Redwings and other Thrushes are migrating accross the North Sea and the Gulls will often sit in the water waiting for them to start dropping into the sea as they fly roud the vessel for hours on end on foggy nights.

 

Sad but only the strong survive.

 

Still dont think the Common Gull was killing the Starling.

[John Ellison]

We have about 50 Stalings on board at the moment ,i had one that was ringed in Finland last year ,also the North Sea Bird Club have had them on different instalations ringed in Latvia and quite a few other countries.

 

Herring Gulls and Black Backed Gulls will attack and kill many other birds including Puffins and Auks out here but at this time of year many Redwings and other Thrushes are migrating accross the North Sea and the Gulls will often sit in the water waiting for them to start dropping into the sea as they fly roud the vessel for hours on end on foggy nights.

 

Sad but only the strong survive.

 

Still dont think the Common Gull was killing the Starling.

I watched a programme on the tele' once about migrating Starlings. Just as Blindog says, exhausted starlings dropped onto the sea, and the black backed gulls swallowed them whole.

[Ken L]

My dad used to have a mate who was a caretaker in a special school. Part of his job was to look after the school pets which inclided a small flock of gease. He'd throw corn out onto the ground and then release the birds every morning and of course the local wild birds had long ago spotted that they could get a free feed if they were quick.

It was apparently a regular thing to have the gease come rushing out, snap at the sparrows and both catch and eat them if they got the chance.

If gease will do this, I've no doubt that gulls are more than capable.

Its a bit like people thinking that roach, rudd, dace etc are plant/inset eaters but the reality is that they will all eat fry given the chance to do so.

[Snatcher]

Talking of black backed gulls. Recall when I first joined this forum and a similar thread came up. Some guy said that he witnessed a bbg kill a lamb/sheep on the other side of the river. How big do these blighters get?

Is this possible?

[ayjay]

How big do these blighters get?

 

 

Great Black Backed Gull

Length: 64-78cm

Wingspan: 150-165cm

Weight: 1-2kg

 

RSPB A-Z of Birds