Its getting warmer and sunnier so it is no surprise if you will soon hear the unique cry of baby seagulls. I live in a seafront town so we have an abundance of seagulls. Come spring, the number of babies is astounding. In particular, I am talking about herring gulls. These are the massive noisier gulls you might see. They are also famous for their aggression. Check my other posts out if you have found a baby seagull and not sure what to do, or check out the baby seagull FAQ.
These seagulls have complex behaviours and are clever birds that like to hang around in large groups. Vocal sounds and body language are very important in communication. They also enjoy personal space. For a bird that is seen in large groups, personal space is extremely important. The breaching of it can result in fights. Herring gulls have courtship behaviours where a female will approach a male with a call similar to a chick. If he is interested, he will reply with his own special call and regurgitate some food as an offering. Once she accepts, they will find a nest site and prepare it. This species of seagull prefer to stay together for life and are fiercely protective of any chicks they rear. Whilst raptors prey on herring gulls, it is known that herring gulls with chicks are strong enough and bold enough to face up to a raptor after their young.
Seagull Babies
Seagull chicks are dependent on their parents for the first 3 months. By then, the fledglings would be able to feed themselves, although parents may continue to care for fledglings till they are 6 months old. If you live near a beach (or an urbanized area), you will be familiar with the call of a baby seagull, a whiny long sounds that carries far. That sound is sometimes so pitiful and needy, even I feel a desire to feed the baby! To make their parents feed them, they would tap on the red part of the parent’s beak. The parent would then regurgitate a meal for them.
Juvenile seagulls look quite different from their parents, instead of the clean white with grey wings, first year juveniles have blotchy grey, black and white feathers on their wings, brown flecks on cream up their neck and head and a black beak. Second winter juveniles have less brown flecks on their necks, the cream coming through more, a lighter grey coming through on the upper wing areas and a pinker beak. By the third winter, gulls will have a whiter head and neck with less brown streaks, a light grey wing that still retains some brown dark grey feathers, and a yellowing beak. They become full adults, able to breed at the age of four years which may seem like a long time but seagulls have long lifespans, some reaching well over thirty years in life if lucky.
Occasionally you will see a juvenile wondering around calling its baby cry and no parent in sight. My advice is to leave it well alone and observe from a distance. Chances are it is a fledgling and it’s parent is not far away. Only after a long period of time of seeing no adults should you intervene. Due to the protective nature of parents approaching a chick or a nest can be very dangerous. Parents will make loud warning squawks and then dive at trespassers. Seagulls will attack viciously with claws and wings and will even resort to loosening their bowels and vomiting on their enemies.
(A herring gull with it’s wings opening. Very pretty!)
Interestingly, when they become independent, I have noticed at my local beach, juveniles prefer to hang out with other juveniles and adults prefer to be with adults. This makes some parts of the beach look like nurseries for gulls. I also realised that when people feed chips to the ‘nursery’ gulls, the adult gulls would not fly over and compete. Gull behaviour is certainly interesting and different to some of the other birds around my area. I will definitely keep an eye out for them this year.
There are many species and sub-species of gulls and sometimes it can be quite challenging to identify them. If you are interested in gulls or bird watching, I recommend this award-winning book – Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America
Very important, if you want to enjoy this book fully, do not get the kindle version. This book simply not made for kindle – it turns colourful pictures into black and white which loses the whole point of having photographs. Instead, get the hardcover version and I am sure you will love it.
Aside from herring gulls, we have black headed gulls chilling at the beach.
I have got friendly with two herring gulls, the male is very big and i call him hector, he now knows his name and, his wife gertie, they are nesting on top of my neighbours roof and, have now got a baby gull about 2 weeks old, I feed them every day and, in the bad weather they don’t come down. They seem to know me now but I am aware that they can attack and, hope this won’t happen to me as it is a wall on a flat roof where they are fed. Some times hector is faster than me when I put down their food and, I gently shoe him away while i place the food and then call him back. I wonder if they will leave when baby has grown and, can look after its self ??? I also have a large cat who lies in one of my flower pots and watches them come down but, he is weary of them. Has anyone an answer re them leaving the site.???
It’s June in Monterey bay and I’m seeing tons of little fluffy herring babies atop roofs and at the nesting sites of their parents. One thing that is funny is to see the larger, flight and hunting capable herring juveniles making the same sounds as a tiny fledgling. I saw a large juvenile attempt to make these whiny calls in the presence of a presumably unrelated adult and it was quickly apprehended with a sharp bite.
Hi Lizzo,
Thank you for sharing! That is an interesting little story, what a cheeky juvenile! I hope he learnt his lesson.
Enmee
Hi Leslova,
I’m not too sure what will happen once the chick is older but after a few weeks, parents generally abandon their gulls to look after themselves. Whether this means they leave the area or not, I am unsure. They might physically stop feeding the chick themselves but may stay above your neighbours roof because there is a good source of food from you.
Thanks for sharing, let me know what happens with the chick!
Enmee
Hi.
We have inherited a baby seagull, we suspect about 35-40 days old. He (?) cant fly but is flapping his wings and preening himself. I’m guessing he tried to fly and landed quite soon after. However we have 2 cats who are very accomplished hunters so are between a rock and a hard place! The cats are outdoor cats, and so is the seagull! Its parents are around, but when I placed the baby gull on my shed roof for overnight, by morning it had fallen off and got stuck, so had to be rescued again. We’ve got some really good pictures of the gull, which you are welcome to! Unfortunately, we’re going to have to put the gull in a cat carrier overnight for its own safety from ours and the many cats around here, but obviously cant leave it in there all night and day whilst we’re out. We’ve fed it fish and given it water, but if you get this any help and suggestions would be appreciated!
Cheers, Lee
Last year gulls nested ion chimney pots opposite and produced a lone chick. Sidney. He had a difficult few weeks when fledging, falling down the pitched roof into the guttering. Eventually he triumphed. His parents have returned to chimney pots to nest. Sidney has never strayed too far. Now whenever a parent flies in Sidney behaves in a very needy fashion, making baby sounds and prostrating himself. This behaviour is treated with parental indifference and they take off. What is going on??
The houses behind us are very close and there is a breeding pair about five houses away. Now usually she has two or three chicks but last year they both disappeared so this year she has only had one chick (one very loud chick). Every year I have fed her scraps and this year I’ve put water out and she’s even talked hubby into coming down to sample the wares. All I have to do is click my fingers and her head pops up. I think they’re herring gulls but I need to check. But the picture above with the pebble beach and groyne looks like my beach on the south coast.
Yesterday morning I was awakened by the squealy whistles of a juvenile gull who had fallen from its nest into the courtyard out back, its poor mamma was so distressed, it was strange because regardless of the extreme difference of species the cries of a mother terrified for her child translated to the same painful tug on the heart & an understanding between 2 females. I managed to talk my building manager into putting the youngster on a ledge close to the roof & we were relieved to have helped it get back beside its mum. Can you imagine my concern when this morning I was awakened by ‘mamma’ again fretting over a different juvenile who’d suffered the same bad luck as its sibling only the previous day but junior has landed in an awkward part of the property which means I can’t get him near the nest. The wee bird’s safe enough & mamma has kept close so I have put out a dish of water & got enough tuna, sardines & berries to last junior a few days to build his strength up & get him ready take to the skies on another adventure. My heart goes out to juniors poor mamma who must be questioning her choice of location for the family home. She’s been great letting me go out with fresh water & food without diving me or screaming, she’s kept close watch & made a kind of quiet chattering noise to let me know she’s a concerned mum who’s ready to swoop to the defence of her child if needs be. I wonder if she knows Junior’s not in immediate danger after yesterday’s rescue mission. I like the idea of women’s intuition transcending species
I look out onto a building that has a flat roof with a ledge that the gulls seem to rest and clean them selves (I lovve watching them )from my living room )But when the young one approaches his mother and tapping her beak she just walks away from it and sits at the other end of the ledge that goes on for a while then it gives up and just sits there .
SAD.
yesterday my little sister found and now adopted this baby seagull here in Calgary,but we are not sure what it eats or how old it really is. it’s head is spotted what looks like light gray,dark gray and back,the front is white and close to it’s neck it it turn a nice light gray, the tip of it’s beak is red then it turn to what looks like black???.it hasn’t mabe a sound yet and it can’t fly
@sheona what a both sad and elevating story. I notice the date is last year, and I’m wondering what happened to the baby gull.
It’s unlikely you’ll come back here after a year, but I’d love to hear what happened.
The feeling of that tug on your heart from a baby seagulls call, I know very well as I live on the coast. I’m fascinated with the gulls nearby, the nest on our rooftops and as we live in a bungalow we get a great view of all the goings on.
A pair of seagulls nested on a building near a pool in my condo complex. The adult seagulls would come in the pool while I was swimming. They would keep to one side of the pool and I would keep to the other. Now the young seagull comes into the pool. Only the young seagull swims right up to me. When I back up it swims closer. When I swim away it follows me. It did this the other day with the mama seagull nearby and she didn’t mind that her young seagull was getting so close to me. The young seagull has also flown straight to me.
I have no idea what this behavior means and would love it if anyone can give me some insight.
Herring gulls are wild birds and should not be fed like they are a pet. Many people are attacked through your actions.
The picture was taken in South east England 🙂
@Elise Seagulls are not afraid of humans and will quite willingly fly close up and snatch sandwiches and ice creams right out of our hands, sometimes they will attack humans to steal food off us. They are aware that we are not a threat to them and are not seeking to harm them but will often leave them bits of food so they are quite comfortable in our presence in the same way that wild birds in towns and parks that are not a prey species behave. It’s only smaller birds such as starlings, robins, tits etc. that are wary of us and fly away when we go near them even when we’re preparing them some seed because they are easy prey to cats, whilst larger birds like gulls and pigeons are far too big and will attack back if a cat pounces on them and cause some serious damage with their sharp beaks.
Can anyone shed some light on some seagull behaviour. A grey juvenile has been walking round a slate roof for about 3 weeks. Its guarded by lots of adults perched on surrounding roofs. Today i saw a big adult land next to the juvenile ( who crouched down) . It waited for a little while then picked up the young one by a wing, shook it and flew off. The young one stayed crouching and the nearest “guard” did nothing.
Was this an act of agression or something else, please?
Sheila
Great post! Have nice day ! 🙂 jduru
I am looking after 2 baby seagulls, giving them fresh water and food. Her mother also comes sometimes. But today in the morning one of that baby seagull flew off, and the another one which is a bit smaller in size was left alone. I dont know what to do, I can feel that smaller one is very upset. I am worried and confused, do her mother will come back to feed her or teach her how to fly? she is not even flapping her wings.
I have a fabulous viewing roof in the middle of the city. Today (22 Aug 18 Ireland) 2 seagull parents are on the roof close by. The mom seagull shooed their young one away. (Maybe she wanted fledging to mix with other birds and get their own food – but I’m not exactly sure).
I’ve been watching the drama with this family unfold these last few weeks. Last week, the mom bird refused to regurgitate food – and even after she was pestered incessantly … she made it clear … ‘enough’s enough’ – “I’ve shown you what to do … how to feed”. Meanwhile … that same day … dada seagull was standing guard on a taller roof … to stop any other bird that thought about landing!!
Back to today … after mama bird shooed her fledging away, she waited a bit and then cried and cried and would not speak with the partner (so to speak!) … they continue to look in opposite directions on the top of the roof. It was thought provoking and wow.
As the expression goes … sometimes you have to be (okay … appear) cruel to be kind
Hi I have 2 resident sea gulls in ramsgate. They seem to return each year and have usually 2 babies (they’ve been coming for nearly 10 years, I presume it’s the same pair), I can hand feed them and they live alongside my cats and my children! My question is, I’ve noticed that they are eating with one chick but not allowing the other into the garden and chasing it off. Why would this be?
Regards
Clare
We have a pet seagull who lives in our garden. He sits on our garage roof like a chicken and waits for food.
My husband went mad when I told him that I was feeding it because in Cornwall you can get in to trouble for feeding the gulls. But I took pity on him because he has a wonky leg. One is normal, the other points 90 degrees to the side so he walks like Herr Flick!
Anyway he’s got to know me and our daughter now and will take bread and biscuits etc from my hand.
I try not to feed him anything too exciting like fresh fish because we don’t want him to be solely reliant on us, but he loves our daughters toast crusts every morning!
We named him a Stephen Seagull!
Hi ya ive got a baby seagull in garden. I saved his mum last year or dad now there baby is the same. The parents are fine with me holding him and hes ok with it. Hes fell off roof. I cant put him back up there. We are in city and is so dangerous for him out of my garden as he cant fly. The parents are watching but they cant get him to nest?
Wonderful “seagull” stories on this site. Like most people I never gave seagulls a second thought, however, I am now lucky enough to have got to know them better. I feed two daily at work and have done for 5 years, each year these two birds produce two or three babies and they are the most protective, caring and responsible parents. This couple stay together on the windowsill and are never away from each others side longer than a few minutes. Their monogamous relationship is something us humans could learn from. They completely entertain us at work and the male bird now knows his name. These beautiful, intelligent birds do not deserve the bad press they get.
Hi everyone, we live in a UK North Devon seaside Town, our Herring Gulls are part of everyday life, the iconic sounds, the visual interactions…. We can’t help but be fascinated, we have had two nesting pairs locally that has given us years of joy & heartstopping moments in equal measure as we’ve watched each little family grow, developing the necessary skills on their rooftop homes, don’t let anyone tell you that Animals & Birds are devoid of emotions, these delightful puffball droids show their excitement at every feed, they grow rapidly on about 7 meals a day, brought in by their attentive (tough love) Parents, their wings developing before our eyes, as they frequently “bow” & stretch out the growth. At 6 weeks old they step up the aerial practice, always keeping the roof below, learning to lift-off & descend into the wind, using the Apex as a runway, their excited squeals as they hold a ‘lift’ in the air is tangible, & so delightful to watch!! Their maiden flights are greeted with our applause, their excited voices carried on a breeze, they spend the following 2 weeks perfecting their skills, returning frequently to the nest for reunions with Parents for food, & with siblings for chatter! This year, we’ve had a few sadnesses, one family had 3 babies, & are reduced to one…. We rescued a 6 week old youngster who was on the cusp of flying, he was slammed into the roof on a gusty day, badly bruised & is still with a Vet. The twins have spent the last week playing aerially…. But the last 2 evening reunions are down to one baby…. With sadly a young body in the road!….. our other family had an early death in the nest…. So little Solo has had wonderful supply of food from the word go…. She flew for the first time last Tuesday, I had the great privilege to be in the garden at the time, she’s since adopted our garden as a playground, visiting daily, investigating everything, plant pots that roll in the breeze, sticks, bits of bark, picking up leaves and having a mad 5mins with it in her beak, running around, wings open squealing in delight, she loves the large tray of water left out for all visiting birds, she ducks, dives & flaps… Typical Seagull ablutions!! Please enjoy your Seagull life cycle everyone, they are very clever & equally funny birds, I know they get a lot of bad press, but here in the UK they are protected birds… “Employed” if you like, by the authorities to clear-up after us messy humans, to eat leftovers which in turn reduces the maggot & fly infestations!! We feel hugely privileged to be given the opportunity to watch the development of these new lives each year!!
I have been feeding mummy daddy and baby seaguĺl since last july. They hang aound all day every day. The baby is still pestering parents for food and i have even seen the mother bird feeding the father bird. The chick is now 9/10 months old. I thought it would have gone its own way by now.