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Seagull movements have been known to stop suddenly without obvious reason.
This morning my Mum calls me and tells me there is a dead seagull on her porch.
I go to dispose of it for her ( she called the council but they said 5 days) and I'm shocked to find a big white dead Herring gull .
It was lying next to a bunch of pots and garden ornaments that would easily have been knocked over by a struggling bird that size. It did not look posed or placed more as if it had fallen there and was already dead.
It was completely intact with no obvious damage , there was a small wisp of feathers next to it with a single tiny spot of blood on it. Nothing on the steps to suggest it was dragged there by a fox or something. Also why would a fox drag a huge seagull up 6 steps to a raised and enclosed on 3 sides brick roughcast porch.
When I bagged it there was no rigor mortis and it was supple and alive looking , bright eyes.
The postman had delivered letters about an hour earlier than the bird being noticed this morning and would have had to step over it to do so . My Mum is on friendly terms with the postie and I would have expected him to have knocked the door to inform her about the bird if it had been there when he delivered.
Theories:
It was blown into the side of the house and suffered immediately fatal internal injuries and fell to the porch : it wasn't windy here last night or today and the porch is somewhat sheltered.
It was killed by another animal or gull and dragged there for consumption : no obvious damage to the gull , no drag marks and why would an animal drag its prey up 6stone steps to at it in front of the main doorway to the house which has a motion sensitive security light.
It was shot with an air rifle whilst on the roof above the porch and fell down dead ; no obvious wounds except the small tuft of slightly bloody feathers and that angle of the house isn't overlooked easily by neighbours. Also its by the seaside , gulls are everywhere why get your kicks firing a gun in a housing area when you can walk 3 minutes away to a secluded beach and shoot all you want.
Mischief makers ; its a very large gull and it seemed to be freshly dead also why leave it in a heap , why not display it with its wings splayed out or maybe carved up for shock effect. Again motion sensitive security light and the front door is way back from the street behind a gate in full view of other neighbours windows. Hardly an opportunistic target.
Lumber trucks will periodically run up the road outside , possibly one hit the gull and it was thrown and happened to land on the step ; nothing else on the step was disturbed , you literally have to navigate around lots of little plant pots , also the road is easily 70ft from the porch.
It dropped dead literally and the bloody feathers were from the impact with the ground.
I have no real clue but I'm pretty certain it wasn't placed there deliberately and it wasn't killed by a predator ( its big , easily 5ft wingspan about the only thing that could kill it is another gull probably).
Any theories chaps
This is a watch forum.
Seagull movements have been known to stop suddenly without obvious reason.
Last edited by unclealec; 20th January 2023 at 00:50.
Is there any glazing on the porch? If so it could have flown into the glass and stunned itself (which may explain the lack of rigour) or killed itself. I've know smaller birds to do it to windows so I suppose a larger bird could do it, especially if being mobbed by other birds.
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The ST-5 movement nearly put Seagull out of business .Originally Posted by unclealec
Oh. Hang on, I'm getting confused now.
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Sorry Will, I had thought up a better (imho) riposte than my first effort and edited it.
To Mr. D I would say that accidental collision was the most likely; any other animal involvement would involve to some extent some consumption of the prey.
There is but the glass isn't particularly large , its also leaded and rippled so not very reflective . The gull would have to round another house about 40ft away in order to get straight on to the glass not a lot of room to manoeuvre at speeds high enough to impact with the force required to kill it , that wall of the house has no windows just the door, the porch is raised about 6 ft off the ground as is the door , stone steps lead up to it .
I'd also say a gull would leave a greasy mark on the window at the very least if it had flown into it. This was the result of an owl flying into my window...
Last edited by Christian; 20th January 2023 at 01:01.
Royal Mail have had a lot of delays recently, the strikes have really taken their toll.
Maybe someone sent your mother an egg?
No need to apologise I was only attempting a witty riposte to your own but I should have realised that it is too late in the day for me to be witty.
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The glass needs to be more transparent than reflective. Anyway, it sounds like another theory laid to rest. Very strange Indeed.
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Beautiful impression. Although I doubt the owl thought so.I'd also say a gull would leave a greasy mark on the window at the very least if it had flown into it. This was the result of an owl flying into my window...
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Christian, you have been visited by an angel.I'd also say a gull would leave a greasy mark on the window at the very least if it had flown into it. This was the result of an owl flying into my window...
Possibly a token of love from a rather warped admirer or a huge domestic cat showing off
Do you people live under rocks? It's avian flu. There are dead birds everywhere.
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/b...ion-in-england
Wind up!
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Heh, beat me to it.
Are you sgguesting it wasn't the Postie, on the porch with the electricity bill... ::
Tbf we can't be sure that posties are not going postal on birds under the cover of avian flu. Are there more deaths on strike days?Are you sgguesting it wasn't the Postie, on the porch with the electricity bill... :
I would suggest taking up another hobby as you have way too much time on your hands 🤣
Why, do you think someone threw a rock at the bird?
Has anyone checked the milkman's DBS yet?
Always one .
As I said we phoned the council. We very specifically mentioned the bird flu issue and they said it was no longer a policy to investigate bird deaths on a general basis.
A milkman in an Aston Martin?
Curiouser and curiouser...
He isn't called Ernie by any chance?
Sounds like it’s been shot by HV air weapon and managed to get to your mothers for shelter and then died.
Jim
Probably poisoned. Hence why no marks.
Seagulls don’t have many fans amongst local populations.
So clever my foot fell off.
Will take someone of a certain age to get that (so most on here I suspect), but that made me laugh out loud!
Perhaps a stale pork pie caught the seagull in the eye?
Maybe , although I'd expect more obvious blood , possible it landed in its last moments then snuffed it
There is a massive avian flu outbreak sweeping the country currently.
Didn’t he drive the fastest milkcart in the west?
Yes, I am that old.
Not really. Entry wound is small and unlikely to have any exit so no second point of wounding.
- - - Updated - - -
And Ernie bit the dust!!
Poor old Ernie
Almost certainly beaten to death as part of a turf war with that unruly mob from Pigeon Street.
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
Had similar with a curlew, of all things, about a decade ago. There is something very incongruous about a bird dropping dead apparently from flight, but I suppose it does happen.
But you can certainly get an appreciation for the power augury had on the human imagination.
What have premium bonds got to do with it? ;-)
As the song said...
If you go down to Pigeon Street
These are the people you will meet...
Obviouse: mistaken for a spy by the KGBIt was completely intact with no obvious damage , there was a small wisp of feathers next to it with a single tiny spot of blood on it.
“ Ford... you're turning into a penguin. Stop it.” HHGTTG
In a previous attempt on its life they threw it from a high balcony, but this approach didn't work.
As shown the the above, it wasn't dead, it was just stunned, which is a common occurrence in other bird species such as the Norwegian Blue parrot.
Its doing a very good impression of being dead in that case . Its been in the dustbin for a couple of days and shows no compulsion to leave .
Dustbins are their natural habitat. Why would it leave?
"Bite my shiny metal ass."
- Bender Bending Rodríguez
The concrete hardened crust .....
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
I saw a pheasant at the bottom of the garden a couple of weeks back, seemed to be strutting around quite normally and then just sort of sat down, like it was on a nest or similar.
I thought nothing of it until I noticed it again about 30 mins later, when it was on its side and convulsing.
By the time I’d put my coat and shoes on and got down to it, it was dead as a dead thing, no obvious signs of injury or anything.
My mate is a vet and when I explained it to him he suggested bird/avian flu a likely cause, and to put it in a bag and dispose of it.
Walking around the local reservoir, I’ve never seen so many dead geese etc, not sure if it impacts Gulls as well, but could be a victim of it as well?
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