Keeping up with the Herring Gulls

10 Friday Feb 2017

Posted by theresagreen in bird behaviour, birds of conservation concern, birdwatching on North Wales coast, Nature of Wales, Rhos-on-Sea

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Tags

European Herring Gull, Gwylan y Penwaig, herring gull, herring gull breeding behaviour, herring gull foot-paddling, herring gulls nesting on roofs, larus argentatus

January 9th – Chimney Pots, Rhos-on-Sea

After a few months of being relatively quiet and peaceful, our Herring gull neighbours are back and making their presence heard and seen throughout the village. Pairs stake out their territories early in the year and will defend them vigorously and vociferously from now until nesting begins, continuing to do so until this year’s offspring have grown and are mature enough to leave the site. It all looks and sounds like a lot of effort and hard work, but that is the price this pair are prepared to pay for a prime high-rise site.

These particular chimney pots are atop my daughter’s 3 storey house, offering well-elevated accommodation and boasting unrivalled 360° views extending over rooftops and the surrounding landscape, which includes the sea. It is a mere two-minute, maybe less, flight to the seashore. Both the male and female of the pair take responsibility for defending the site, sometimes together and sometimes on their own. They must need to take frequent breaks to restore their energy levels after a bout of meaningful squawking at the sky.

10: 29 – Female flies to roof edge, has a quick look around then takes off,

leaving the male in charge. I didn’t notice while I was taking these photographs, but he was not left entirely alone. To my amusement, a male Starling had his back. He has located his family home in the eaves of the adjoining property.

He seemed to have his work cut out, although from where I was standing in the garden I couldn’t see what or who he was directing his attention towards.

I couldn’t quite catch him in full squawk this morning, but he was making plenty of noise. He is still sporting his winter plumage and appears to be in pretty good shape, but he’s not a young bird. When I looked at my images I recognised him by his eyes, or rather by the lack of feathers around his eyes as the male of a pair I spent a lot of time watching back in the spring and summer of 2012.

As you can tell from the next couple of images he is looking a bit scrawny around the neck area, not as plump and well-filled out as he was back in the day.

Herring gulls breed for the first time at age 4 and a typical lifespan is 12 years. The oldest recorded Herring gull (from ringing records) was 32 years 9 months and 25 days old. This record was set in 2013.

10.39am – the female arrives back with a flourish and lends her voice to the warning-off aria.

he may be older, but clearly still has got what it takes to attract a mate and this one appears younger. It must be something to do with the status of his domain.

10.40 – She’s a bit on edge though and leaves again a minute later, I think she was chasing off another gull from their airspace, perhaps a rival female. It started to rain quite heavily then and he left shortly afterwards too.

Then and now

This is a head shot of the male showing his ‘scabby’ eyes taken this January

and below is one I took on July 24th 2012. He’s in his brighter summer/breeding plumage here, but had the ‘scabby’ eyes even then. It’s too much of a coincidence for it not to be the same bird isn’t it? He was considerably better-padded then too. If 2012 was his first year of breeding he would have been 4 plus the 5 years from then till now would make him 9, but I think he could be older.

This was him and his mate in full squawk back then, after they had successfully reared a chick that had fallen out of the chimneypot nest and landed on the flat roof below. More about that here: https://theresagreen.me/2013/06/20/theres-a-new-gull-on-the-roof

He was and I’m sure, still is a brilliant and attentive parent, bringing regular and diverse meals back to his hungry youngster. Including a starfish and regurgitated chips.

January 24th 2017

Back to the present. I was out taking my baby granddaughter for a walk along the prom and spotted this chap paddling for worms on the grass embankment. Old scabby eyes himself.

The Herring gull remains on the RED list of European threatened birds and it is illegal to harm them or damage or remove their eggs from nests.

Cold weather and bird behaviour

07 Tuesday Feb 2012

Posted by theresagreen in bird behaviour, birds of the seashore, Nature, nature photography, Rhos-on-Sea

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Tags

black-headed gull changing plumage, crow perched in the rain, herring gull catching earthworms, herring gull foot-paddling, oystercatcher in the rain

In common with the rest of the country we had a week of proper winter weather last week, although we have so far missed out on any snow. The compensation for below- freezing temperatures was that for three days the skies were clear and the sun shone. The mornings are lighter earlier now and when I leave the house the air is full of the sounds of birds. The tides have changed too and by 8.30am the sea has receded and the rocky shore and beach are already busy with foraging birds. The daylight hours are gradually lengthening too and it is now staying light till just past 5pm; it’s amazing how much better that makes you feel.

My drive back and forth to work follows the coast closely; the road runs alongside the promenade all the way from the far end of Colwyn Bay, through Rhos on Sea and reaching almost as far as the Little Orme at the end of Penrhyn Bay. It is a treat to have such a scenic journey, especially as each day brings a different view depending on the state of the tide and the light. It hasn’t been a great week for getting out and about, so this week’s observations are a bit limited and have been made from the shelter of the car at points along the route I drive.

Saturday began cold with a light frost and by noon, where others were being snowed upon, we had some very cold rain instead. But whatever the weather, life along the seashore carries on pretty much as usual; birds simply have to eat. On my way home at lunch time I pulled in alongside the promenade at the Old Colwyn end of the promenade to have a look at how the rain was affecting the birds. A few black-headed gulls are regularly perched on the railings here and as I stopped two birds obligingly flew in, probably hoping or some food to be thrown to them. One of them was well on his way to regaining his characteristic dark head plumage, looking a bit strange at the moment, but it won’t be long before he’s back to his handsome best. He was behaving territorially, squawking loudly at the approach of the other bird both on the ground and from the apparently desirable perch on the railings.

Black-headed gull with his head noticeably turning darker

Black-headed gull squawking from his perch

Down on the rain-lashed beach a lone oyster catcher was running around foraging, periodically probing the sand with its bill. It found a mussel and scuttled off at speed. I don’t know what it was running away from, it had the whole beach practically to itself.

Oystercatcher foraging in the`rain on the sandy shore of Colwyn Bay

The Oystercatcher found himself a mussel and scuttled off along the beach with it in his bill

Crows are regular visitors to the seashore here and can often be seen perched on the railings and on the wall on the opposite side of the road or foraging on the steep grass bank behind it. They have also learnt that the hard surface of the promenade is helpful in breaking open mussel shells and they can be watched dropping the shellfish and picking them up repetitively until the soft body inside can be reached and eaten.

Crow sitting on the wall, hunched against the rain

Crow looking down his beak at me

Herring gulls are master opportunists when it comes to finding food, and they too are often seen foraging on the steep grassy banks along the coast road. It is only very recently that I’ve noticed one or two birds ‘ foot-paddling’ on the ground, a technique gulls and some other waders use to bring marine invertebrates to the surface. It is fascinating to watch the birds dance on the spot, rhythmically drumming the ground with their big webbed feet; it seems to do the trick too, the one I photographed pulled out and ate several earthworms as I watched.