Do Seagulls Send Out Another Seagull To Look For Food?

[bellazella]

Noticed that their will be one seagull hovering about, then next their is carnage in my garden when they turn up

[Clanad]

So, there's a seagull sargeant? No, that's a level of intelligence of which they're not capable... however, they're very observant and usually congregate in flcoks, both large and small. Those that are looking for food tend to circle fairly high above the ground and from there they can easily observe the actions of others in the flock. Finding food is easily determined by those looking for telling actions of other that have located it.
A lot of disagreement on the acuity of their sense of smell among ornithologists but, food especially relevant to seagulls, is most often thought to be found by sight.

Here in the U.S., our most common seagull is the Herring Seagull... white, of course, but with a yellow beak that has a red spot on the end of it... They most often (away from the seashore) gather at waste disposal sites and generally become a pest...

It's only the gulls that are near the sea that are called seagulls... whereas the ones by the bay are called bagels...

[bellazella]

Thank you

[vulcan]

Here's one caught on Google.
http://www.brightonan...2010/03/SVseagull.jpg

[heathfield]

A seagull can see the characteristic flight pattern of a feeding gull at a distance of several miles.

[bellazella]

Thanks Heath, but i see a seagull scouring the area, when it sees food within minutes others arrive

[gingejbee]

They don't like being called "seagulls" - because they are just "gulls". Hence, they turn on you!

[craft1948]

Last time I eat a bagel :-(

[boxtops]

Oh yes they do, there is often a sentry sitting on our chimneys, when one of them sees a binbag go out, they squawk and alert their mates.

[LoftyLottie]

It has now been acknowedged that birds do communicate with each other and they are more intelligent than we imagine them to be.
I don't think they actually send out a scout to look for food but they definitely communicate to each other when there is food about.

http://www.all-birds.com/Sound.htm

[wildwood]

For millions of years gulls have depended on milling about coastal areas in the hope that one spots a carcass or school of fish being chased by another predator, so the feeding frenzy can begin. They also quickly learn where other birds are breeding and when the youngsters there are about to fledge.

They now have no problem detecting the behaviour of others when there is food about, or indeed, edible rubbish those humans have left about. Some have even learned to steal ice creams from the hands of unsuspecting beach goers and open shopping malls. Before human settlement there were a lot less gulls.

[Wharton]

My parrot says to me "Who's an ugly sod, then?" I don't know who taught her that, but I still feed her.

[mike11111]

I am not an unkind person as regards animals, but when it comes to seagulls then anyone who proposes mass genocide has my full support. Living in a coastal town I have come to dread the annual summer breeding season. No longer do they nest by the cliffs, but have come inland to settle in the chimneys of old houses. The two who regularly return to nest on the roof of the house opposite know me by sight, and as soon as I venture to put my head outside the front door they descend on me like the Furies out of Hell. I don't know if any of you has had a gull drop its load on your head but take it from me it hurts like buggery. Such precision bombing, they must have satnav in their arses. If Churchill had signed them up in 1939 for the RAF instead of the Spitfire pilots the war WOULD have been over by Christmas.

[DaisyNonna]

Local pet shop put birdseed in paper sacks outside on the pavement. Quickly sussed by seagulls, queueing upfor a free feast opposite the bus stop.

[sammmo]

mike11111.. the answer to your problem is to feed them Alka Seltzers..wrap one in a bit of bread and throw it on the roof of the house opposite..the gull will eat it and the seltzer will produce gases the gull cannot get rid of and the bird will pop.. bye bye problem

[mike11111]

Actually I have been told that, Alka Seltzer or water sterilising tablets. Trouble is I live in dread from a visit from the RSPCA.

[Wharton]

mike11111 - Very funny! I was in Oban one day and bought a fish supper to eat on the esplanade. A gull landed next to me on the wall and I took a chip from the container and held it out to it. Another (insert your own word) gull lifted the entire (insert your own word) fish supper and flew off with it. I couldn't believe it but had to admire their strategy!!

[sammmo]

If they kept attacking me, i'd have to do something.. get a catapolt and use them as target practice or something along those lines..Dont you know anyone with a good air rifle?

[mike11111]

Apparently they are classed as a protected species and not vermin, so you can't hurt them. Oh really?

[Wharton]

sammmo - are you writing scripts for "Dad's Army?" - they're only gulls!

[DaisyNonna]

There is a refuge in the road between the bus stop and the pet shop. Many of the gulls walk across the road, stop on the refuge and then continue to walk to the shop. Not many fly across the road.