Gulls vicious attack. (1 Viewer)

T. Keith Bruce · Apr 14, 2005

I was quite surprised today by the action of a group of gulls who carried out a vicious attack on a guillemot. Initially, one gull was floating beside the guillemot and taking very little notice of it. As the two got nearer and nearer the gull suddenly started to peck at the guillemot who began to peck back but soon retreated from the bigger bird to about six feet away. The gull then swam alongside the guillemot and started a frenzied attack on the poor bird. As this attack carried on several other gulls started to take an interest and then joined in individually with the onslaught. During this attack I counted 12 different gulls having a go at the guillemot who inevitably died of its wounds after a brave attempt to stave off his assailants. Strangely, the guillemot never tried to fly away. The poor bird was left for dead, floating upside down and in time the gulls lost interest and flew away. Could this have been a case of bullying, killing off a weak bird, inter-species dislike or just normal bird behaviour. Not an action I have ever witnessed before, nor do I want too again.

Stewart J. · Apr 14, 2005

Have also witnessed Gulls attacking and killing Auks on several occasions. Have also witnessed Gulls harrying and driving migrants into sea then feeding on them.

Stewart

RecoveringScot · Apr 14, 2005

T. Keith Bruce said:
I was quite surprised today by the action of a group of gulls who carried out a vicious attack on a guillemot. Initially, one gull was floating beside the guillemot and taking very little notice of it. As the two got nearer and nearer the gull suddenly started to peck at the guillemot who began to peck back but soon retreated from the bigger bird to about six feet away. The gull then swam alongside the guillemot and started a frenzied attack on the poor bird. As this attack carried on several other gulls started to take an interest and then joined in individually with the onslaught. During this attack I counted 12 different gulls having a go at the guillemot who inevitably died of its wounds after a brave attempt to stave off his assailants. Strangely, the guillemot never tried to fly away. The poor bird was left for dead, floating upside down and in time the gulls lost interest and flew away. Could this have been a case of bullying, killing off a weak bird, inter-species dislike or just normal bird behaviour. Not an action I have ever witnessed before, nor do I want too again.

Over the last couple of years I have witnessed Bonxies and Great Black-backed Gulls killing floating Guillemots frequently off Girdleness. I attributed it to food shortage on the part of the Bonxies (although they are known to attack and kill the larger Gulls, and loads of smaller stuff, regularly anyway), and it's interesting that this is also mooted as a cause in the current edition of 'Scottish Bird News'. Perhaps your Guillemot was itself weak through starvation, as normally they will repeatedly dive to avoid attack.

jurek · Apr 15, 2005

I think this Guillemot was already too weak for any escape.

I once saw Great BB Gulls harrying a flock of Coot which run in panic on the water surface. Strangely, gulls apparently dived at the end or behind the flock. Maybe thet were after some fish scared away by flock of coots?

salty · Apr 15, 2005

shocking stuff. i have witnessed gulls pecking into the chests of other (deceased) gulls, quite a site not for the squemish. i dont know if they actually feed on the gull, but they certainly can kill other large birds when in large groups.

dylan · Apr 15, 2005

Fascinating pictures and description, never seen anything like that myself. A reminder of how cruel nature can be.

saluki · Apr 15, 2005

dylan said:
Fascinating pictures and description, never seen anything like that myself. A reminder of how cruel nature can be.

Someone PM'd me the other week asking for details after I'd mentioned seeing a GBB Gull kill a juv Herring Gull. I sent them this:

We were fishing from a boat on Loch Fyne, Argyll, Scotland mid September. It was the end of the day and I was gutting the fish we'd caught, throwing the waste overboard to the gulls. I didn't think anything of it when I saw a GBB Gull apparently squabbling with a juv. Herring Gull - I thought they were just fighting over some morsel of food. We were about 50yds off a small island and decided to circle it whilst I finished gutting the fish. When we got back to the place where I'd noticed the gulls squabbling I saw that the juv. H Gull was now in serious trouble, the GBB striking it repeatedly around the head. Eventually the H. Gull lay dead in the water, the GBB dragged it to the island where there were two juv. GBB waiting. We left then, but I'm presuming the juv. GBB's were the adult's youngsters.

saluki

CornishExile · Apr 15, 2005

RecoveringScot said:
Over the last couple of years I have witnessed Bonxies and Great Black-backed Gulls killing floating Guillemots frequently off Girdleness. I attributed it to food shortage on the part of the Bonxies (although they are known to attack and kill the larger Gulls, and loads of smaller stuff, regularly anyway), and it's interesting that this is also mooted as a cause in the current edition of 'Scottish Bird News'. Perhaps your Guillemot was itself weak through starvation, as normally they will repeatedly dive to avoid attack.

I think it's becoming accepted fact now that food shortages in the North Atlantic / North Sea are compelling large gull and skua species to adapt their feeding strategies to cope; Bonxies and GB-bGs are both predating smaller seabird species in Shetland with seemingly increasing frequency, adding in a small part to the already considerable pressure all Shetland's breeding seabirds are labouring under. Last year it was a common sight in Shetland to witness Bonxies lined up alongside the road in the evening waiting for rabbit roadkills to eat as carrion.

I agree there could well have been something amiss with the Guilly in this instance, as they do habitually dive to evade harrassment. Unless it had been doing this for some time already, and was finally exhausted. I seem to recall there have been a lot more tideline corpses of seabirds found on the east coast this winter; not sure if these were attributed to starvation or disease. Either way, there may well be a lot more weakened alcids out there susceptible to predation.

Jon

salty · Apr 15, 2005

looks like a trend is appearing. do they really (gulls) have a lack of food, and has anybody witnessed a gull actually feeding from another bird, and not just chicks?

noticed that black headed gulls are still doing okay, but kittiwakes are not as plentifull as they were around my patch.

be carefull when eating your fish and chips when at the seaside this year members - there are killers on the loose!!!

RecoveringScot · Apr 15, 2005

CornishExile said:
I think it's becoming accepted fact now that food shortages in the North Atlantic / North Sea are compelling large gull and skua species to adapt their feeding strategies to cope; Bonxies and GB-bGs are both predating smaller seabird species in Shetland with seemingly increasing frequency, adding in a small part to the already considerable pressure all Shetland's breeding seabirds are labouring under. Last year it was a common sight in Shetland to witness Bonxies lined up alongside the road in the evening waiting for rabbit roadkills to eat as carrion.

I agree there could well have been something amiss with the Guilly in this instance, as they do habitually dive to evade harrassment. Unless it had been doing this for some time already, and was finally exhausted. I seem to recall there have been a lot more tideline corpses of seabirds found on the east coast this winter; not sure if these were attributed to starvation or disease. Either way, there may well be a lot more weakened alcids out there susceptible to predation.

Jon

Yes, I think so. Even repeated diving will not dissuade a determined Bonxie. It was not uncommon to see bodies of auks being washed into the harbour at the end of a day's watching, some apparently whole, but others half-eaten. And unusually large numbers of auks have been staying close inshore, even in good weather, which used to puzzle me, as they then become noticeable to inshore predators.

JANJ · Apr 15, 2005

dylan said:
Fascinating pictures and description, never seen anything like that myself. A reminder of how cruel nature can be.

Hi Dylan!
Is nature really cruel? Is it not just a human projection.
Jan.J

James Lowther · Apr 15, 2005

Depends if you attach a moral dimension to the word cruel, but i don't think Dylan was suggesting that.....

Edward · Apr 15, 2005

A friend of mine was fortunate enough to witness at very close quarters a Great Skua catch and swallow whole a male Grey Phalarope at a GP breeding colony in southern Iceland last year.

E

Katy Penland · Apr 15, 2005

This isn't nearly as dramatic as what's already been described, but I witnessed one sub-adult Western Gull "attack" another one on a creek that drains into the ocean in California. (That's a Double-crested Cormorant in the b.g., who watched warily but didn't fly off.) I have no idea what started this, but it was over 10 minutes before the gull on the left was able to get his wing back and fly away. There was nothing food-wise I could see that they were fighting over.

sparrie · Apr 15, 2005

I know I'm not supposed to talk about falconry but I know a guy who had his babary falcon chased and killed by gulls. I don't think they care what they kill but they especially don't like anything with a hooked beak.

Gary

saluki · Apr 15, 2005

GBB used to turn up on the hill in May when the ewes were lambing looking for afterbirth and dead lambs. Most of the shepherds said they would kill lambs, though I never saw this for myself, though I often found them on freshly dead lambs. The shepherds also said they would take the eyes out of pregnant ewes that had ended up on their backs and couldn't get up again. I did occasionally find live eyeless sheep, but it could have been ravens or hoodies. At lambing time too I often saw GBB's waiting around the rabbit warrens for young rabbits.

I've watched GBB's 'testing' flocks of wigeon - flying low and hard at them to flush them into the air. They're looking for 'pricked' birds (birds that have been shot). If they find one that's a bit slower than the rest or shows any sign of injury they'll hunt it down. I've seen them catch both wigeon and teal using this method. Watch a flock of widgeon's reaction when a GBB passes over compared to other gulls, especially if the gull looks as if it's hunting - they'll lift and fly to the nearest water. I've heard of wildfowlers who have lost birds to Black Backs - a teal or wader they'd shot had been picked up by the gull before they could retrieve it.

saluki

dylan · Apr 16, 2005

JANJ said:
Hi Dylan!
Is nature really cruel? Is it not just a human projection.
Jan.J

Hi Jan, I hear what you're saying.
As the bird was apparently not killed for food, it does seem rather 'cruel' to me.

alcedo.atthis · Apr 16, 2005

"I think it's becoming accepted fact now that food shortages in the North Atlantic / North Sea are compelling large gull and Skua species to adapt their feeding strategies to cope"

Not a new behaviour adaptation. In the 1950's and '60's, I saw on repeated occasions, Herring Gulls take newly fledged Starlings, Pigeons and Sparrows. I would think that this is a long time practice, but with the growth in numbers of bird watchers/enthusiasts, it is just being recorded more often.

"As the bird was apparently not killed for food, it does seem rather 'cruel' to me."

Depends what the attack stimulation was.

Food wise, rotting flesh is more easily fed on than fresh flesh. It breaks down a lot easier.

On the Montrose Alpha (offshore platform) during migration, we have watched the Greater Black-backed Gulls forcing flocks of Starlings, which were flying around the flare, (not a vertical one, but parallel to the sea surface) into the sea where others would dive in and pick them up for food. Then they would swap places. We have watched the complete decimation of whole flocks of Starlings.

Regards

Malky

Chigrl · Apr 16, 2005

I once saw a single gull fly into a small flock of starlings and pick them off at random.

scuba0095 · Apr 16, 2005

can someone tell me what species of gull it was that caused the attack?

Gulls vicious attack. (1 Viewer)

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