Seagulls circling in groups

odyssey06

Some strange behaviour from seagulls over the Tolka Estuary, seemed to be 'flocking'... a spread of seagulls, circling at different levels, but as a group they were moving around the estuary.

Mating season? Wouldn't expect there's anything airborne for them to eat at this time of year.

amandstu

odyssey06 wrote: »

Some strange behaviour from seagulls over the Tolka Estuary, seemed to be 'flocking'... a spread of seagulls, circling at different levels, but as a group they were moving around the estuary.

Mating season? Wouldn't expect there's anything airborne for them to eat at this time of year.

Weren't being attacked, were they? Do seagulls "mob"?

Nothing in the water?

odyssey06

amandstu wrote: »

Weren't being attacked, were they? Do seagulls "mob"?
Nothing in the water?

I have seen half a dozen seagulls take turns in mobbing a heron, but this time they seemed more interested in each other rather than anything else above or below ... must have been 50+ of them.

amandstu

odyssey06 wrote: »

I have seen half a dozen seagulls take turns in mobbing a heron, but this time they seemed more interested in each other rather than anything else above or below ... must have been 50+ of them.

Fighting over scraps? Could there have been another kind of bird that was being attacked that just looked like a seagull but wasn't?

Maybe an expert will have a better idea...

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

50 is not a huge flock of gulls.

They don't take food in flight as a rule nor is it breeding behaviour.

Gulls often wheel in large flocks. It could be disturbance from a predator, flocking to seek out a feeding area, movement due to adverse weather. Lots of reasons.

odyssey06

Meadow Inexpensive Recorder wrote: »

They don't take food in flight as a rule nor is it breeding behaviour. Gulls often wheel in large flocks. It could be disturbance from a predator, flocking to seek out a feeding area, movement due to adverse weather. Lots of reasons.

Thanks, 'wheel' is the perfect description of the behaviour. I've never seen so many seagulls engaged in the behaviour at the same time.

I have seen a much more dispersed 'circling' of individual seagulls on the rare evenings when flying ants take to the skies... they seemed to be picking them off in flight.