My rant about Gulls and chicks,

picture by Sierra

When I am here I am very aware that my presence has positive and negative effects on the wildlife. Certainly keeping fishing boats out of the protected aware, monitoring boat traffic speed and proximity to wildlife, observing and recording all are benefits. With so many nesting birds my first couple of days were fraught with the feeling that every time I walked outside I was causing chicks to be attacked. After a week here I can walk fairly safely because I have figured out a few things. The gulls have very small territories which, if the chicks stay in, they are not attacked by other gulls. It is when they run into another gull’s territory that they are attacked. It didn’t take me long to realize whose territory was whose. if I walk slowly along the paths I give the chicks time to get into their safe places and the parents may cluck at me or actually lift but rarely. If I see a chick going in the wrong direction I wait and it will most often turn back and go back to its territory. It is not hard to figure out who goes where as the chicks are different sizes (ages) and in different numbers. For  instance there are 2 almost fledged chicks that hide under our walkway (safe place) but if they are out and frightened they run into the territory next to them and the adult there will attack them. When I leave the house I give them time to get under the walkway before I pass. There is one chick that lives right beside our doorway and every time I open the door I wait for it to run to its territory (to the right of the entrance). This may sound a bit crazy but not seeing chicks attacked as I walk around is worth it. I haven’t done anything scientific in my observation and it would be interesting to do. Walk briskly without any attention to details or slowly with attention and compare adult attacks on chicks . It would be a small study easily done but I am leaving today. When I arrived here I thought adult attacks on young were because we were scaring off the parents leaving the chicks vulnerable but I haven’t noticed an adult leaving its territory to attack an unprotected chick. It seems the chick runs out of its  territory first.