Will the seagulls breed again?

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seagullcat
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Joined: Mon May 28, 2018 5:35 pm

Will the seagulls breed again?

Post by seagullcat » Mon May 28, 2018 5:46 pm

Sorry, not certain what sort of gulls they are (I tend to lump them all together under "seagulls"), but they're not the biggest ones.

Anyway... I was hoping someone could help me out with a question I got. I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere on the net, but clearly I'm not capable of typing in the correct words on google to actually get the correct answer. :)

A pair of seagulls nest on one of the chimneys where I live. They come back every year. Last year sadly a bird took off with their chick, year before that they had two chick who both made it and flew off (it was awesome to see them thrive through the summer)!

This year has however been twice as bad as last year... as they had two chicks, one fell to it's death, and the other got hit by a car (I cried buckets finding them)...

As the chicks didn't live long, is there any chance the seagulls will breed again this summer? Both mum and dad seagull are still hanging about (last year they left fairly quickly after their chick was snatched), so I'm wondering if they will attempt breeding again.

If there's a chance of them breeding again, I will have to try to figure out a way so the chicks won't fall to the ground (parkinglot), but instead fall onto the otherside of the chimey (where there's a flat roof).

Thank you for any help.

Jacksparrow
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Re: Will the seagulls breed again?

Post by Jacksparrow » Mon May 28, 2018 9:08 pm

Welcome to the forum seagullcat :wave2:
The answer to your question is that gulls are only have one brood per year so sadly for you and them it's all over for this year. If they are not the bigger type of gull they are possibly Black Headed Gulls which are very common. The bigger ones which will steal chicks are usually Herring Gulls or Lesser Black Backed Gulls.

seagullcat
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Re: Will the seagulls breed again?

Post by seagullcat » Mon May 28, 2018 9:37 pm

Thank you so much Jacksparrow!

I kept trying to google it, but all I got was more and more frustrated and confused, not finding an answer. :)

Not certain if it's the answer I want though. Hahah. One on hand I'm happy they're not breeding again now (I get super stressed, as I get so worried about them), on the other hand I'm feeling really sad for mum and dad, not getting any chicks to raise. :(

As soon as mum and dad takes off I'm roping in hubby to help me make it "baby seagull safe"... well, as safe as we can, we can't help other birds attacking... but we should be able to stop the chicks falling off into the carpark. Would be better to wait until after winter, but as I don't know what shape I'll be in next year, I figure we'll have to do it now.

Thank you once more. :clap:

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Placido
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Re: Will the seagulls breed again?

Post by Placido » Tue May 29, 2018 10:29 am

Jacksparrow knows about gulls :nod: :yes:.

Hi seagullcat - hope you manage to do your bit for nesting gulls. Seems only fair as they keep coming back :).

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