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Seagull Pests

General Information

Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white with black markings on the head or wings. They typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls, stout, longish bills, and webbed feet. Most gulls are ground-nesting carnivores, which take live food or scavenge opportunistically. Live food often includes crabs and small fish. It is illegal to remove a nest with young in it – usually between April and June. Seagulls are attentive and caring parents; the male and female pair for life and they take turns incubating the eggs, and feeding and protecting the chicks. Gulls have a complex and highly developed repertoire for communication which includes a range of vocalisations and body movements. Seagulls are also very clever; they learn, remember and even pass on behaviours, such as stamping their feet in a group to imitate rainfall which tricks earthworms to come to the surface.

Average Lifecycle

After mating near sources of light, females can lay more than 100 eggs at a time, which will hatch into larvae within seven to 35 days. Adults are capable fliers; therefore, carpet beetles can move from room to room, allowing for rapid infestation. The carpet beetle has an unusual life cycle for an insect, developing from larvae to adult in 1–3 years, depending on the environmental conditions. Larvae hatch from eggs in the spring and early summer, often in the nests of birds. The life cycle takes about a year, and the grubs can survive starvation in hard times for several months. Adults are often seen in April, May and June, seeking egg-laying sites; and the grubs are most active in October before they hibernate. The life expectancy of the adult beetle is about two weeks. During this period, mating occurs and the eggs are laid, either close to the human environs or in bird nests, tree hollows and similar, dry places where larvae can find their food. Then the cycle begins anew.

Quick Facts

Type: Bird
Diet: Omnivore
Life span: 10-15 years
Size: 30-75 cm
Weight: 120 – 1750 g
Habitat: Coastlines, bays, major lakes and urban areas
Range: Global
Scientific name: Laridae

FUN FACTS

• Gulls have unhinging jaws which allow them to consume large prey.

• A small claw halfway up their lower leg enables them to sit and roost on high ledges without being blown off.

• Many seagulls have learned to conserve energy by hovering over bridges in order to absorb raising heat from paved roadways.

• Seagulls can drink both fresh and salt water. Most animals are unable to do this, but seagulls have a special pair of glands right above their eyes which is specifically designed to flush the salt from their systems through openings in the bill.