240830 seagulls, last days
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- Опубліковано 15 вер 2024
- The last post on the seagulls this season.
We have been feeling the time for departure is closing in for some time now.
A little change of behavior, more flight training for the chicks.
And now they are gone, all of them.
Lady left first.
Wing and the last chick stayed 9 days longer before they followed her.
This was longer than expected.
We have had a concern about the timing for this couple, being about 5 weeks later than we are used to.
Five weeks are a very long time in small gull chicks' lives.
All the other gulls in the colony are long gone.
But it seems like our concern was a little exaggerated. What we are used to is not necessarily the only way.
The chicks have grown very well through the summer and were strong and fit when they left.
The last couple of weeks we have seen Mew gulls, both adults and youngsters, passing the area.
Small groups at a time.
Even the last days there are passers, birds from further north going to the south.
We hope for a nice journey and a safe return in April next year.
p.s.
We have sort of tried out an experiment this year.
Because Lady's and Wing's chicks hatched so late in the season, we decided to offer them as much food as they wanted through the day hours. Normally we offer only some of the food needed. Since both Lady and Wing showed so clearly when they were ready for more food, this experiment was easy to do.
They also ate directly from the box, being the only birds eating from it, it has been easy to know how much they eat/collect from our food.
The gulls are very effective feeders, waisting absolutely no food. The parents pick up every tiny bit of food not eaten by the chicks.
This experiement showed us how much food the chicks actually eat in a day. We are stunned.
We think there is no wonder the gulls strive to get enough food from the nature. In this area Mew gulls actually eat a lot more insects and earth worms than fish. The reduction of insects is very noticeable in this part of the world.
They're beautiful. My gull family seem to have just left. They will be missed.
Yes, they are. They will be missed until we hopefully see them again i April.
It was really lovely to see 2 little gulls playing and enjoying themselves, very cute 🥰 , but yes, I was a bit surprised too to see one of them gone, I would have thought they would have left together. Lady and Wing did really well, with your help of course. They really are such a lovely couple. I hope Wing recovers well, his wing looked really worn out.
Lots of things happened this season, new things, and maybe there is some things to be learned from this year. I'd say maybe feeding on the roof when a gull couple/chicks are vulnerable (like Gher being vulnerable losing a partner and being left with 2 small chicks) is not the best idea as it would attract many birds and create conflict?
Its been very tough for you this year, lets hope the next year is calmer 🤞
Thank you so much for giving us the opportunity to follow all the developments throughout the season ❤
Thank you.
Yes, we were a little surprised one of the chicks was gone.
But it was very strong and sound. And the chicks seemed to be able to feed themselves more, Wing occationally collecting less food.
The same happened to Shegull and Gully and their two chicks. Shegull left first. Then one of the chicks left and finally Gully left with the last chick. About in a similar time span, only earlier.
Let's hope it (Tee?) left on it's wings.
We are also very impressed and proud of Lady and Wing.
As mentioned in the video, Wing's wing does look bad, but it has been like this since we first noticed him last year (as an adult youngster).
He really seems to cope with it.
Yes, a lot of unexpected things, new experiences, a lot of new things to learn.
And Gher was a dilemma.
We 'knew' she needed help to raise her chicks.
Without our contribution, she would probably not have made it.
There are so many 'small' things that can lead to tragedy or to success in this hasty period.
With Gher 'rejecting' our help, it all became challenging.
She needed help, but couldn't eat the food while we were close to 'guard' her.
Of course we hoped she could manage eventually, but it never happened.
We tried several adjustments, but none worked properly.
Usually we 'point' our feeding so we don't attract or create conflicts, but it was hard to find a 'perfect' solution this time.
Then the whole situation with Lady and Wing was kind of a blessing and a big and soothing contrast.
We appreciate very much to have got to know this couple.
@@picapicalife its comforting a bit to know that other chicks left one at the time too, I was wondering if that usually or ever happen. As you said, lets hope it (Tee?) left willingly and they are all doing fine. They grew into a strong chicks 💪 . That was actually big relief, it was worrying they had them so so late, but it worked out just fine. It seems to me now that they were so desperate to take over the roof nest so they can have late chicks, knowing that the food will be plentiful and they will be able to raise them successfully that late, that was probably their security and a deciding factor to have chicks so late☺
And its so much easier to talk about what's the best thing to do when you have an advantage of a hindsight, its much more difficult to decide in that moment. Poor Gher was beside herself after loosing Ghim and it would have been near impossible (emotionally) to stop putting out food, specially with tiny chicks around. I just hope that she and her 2 remaining chicks are doing well 🙏. Fly high in gull heaven sweet little Kid 3 💔🌈
Thank you for providing us with all these videos @picapicalife , lets look forward to the next season 😃
@@starb9138 Thank you.
We have already started to think nice thoughts about the next year's gull season. We have such strong hopes Lady and Wing will return safely.
Yesterday we saw even three more Mew gulls passing, so the 'south route' is obviously still 'open'. This is comforting.
Now we rest our eyes on the magpies, crows, sparrows and all the other remaining birds. The crows will probably and eventually leave the garden for the winter shortly.
The big grey Herring gulls also want our attention.
They are such nice birds, but in respect for the Mew gulls, we can't befriend them so close to the nest. They are potentially nest robbers.
The magpies have grown trustful through the summer and now we can look at each other pretty closely. They show no 'panic' when they see us anymore. The chicks are still very much around, the adults show claiming behavior to the steel tree. It's very nice.
What a lovely video!
I am both happy and sad, I will miss seeing them just as I am missing seeing Sammy and Snowy , and the rest, but couldn't be happier to see such a positive outcome .
Lady and Wing did a wonderful job raising these two healthy youngsters, with, of course, a lot of help from yourselves , despite the late start etc.
I was surprised, and a little worried, that one of the youngsters was missing at the end, I would have expected both of them to leave along with Wing.
I think it is very likely Wing and Lady will be back next year, strong bonds have been made.
We have always fed Sammy and Snowy 'on demand ' for the most part, Sammy decided from the start that was how he wanted things and he quickly wore us down into submission. He would come to the window and knock, knock, knock until he got what he wanted , he is quite demanding!!
This year was the first time we saw a bit of their Winter plumage as they both arrived very early, in February.
Seeing Wing in the rain like that, looking adorable, made me want to break through the screen and pick him up. He does look exhausted poor thing and his wing is much more noticeable.
The season really takes it out of them all, 'ours' were all looking quite haggard by the end , and Dumbo the old Herring Gull had started to struggle to take off and fly high enough to clear the trees again, it broke my heart to see him like that but he recovered well last year so hopefully will again.
Sad to see there are only 6 Cignets left but the rest of the family are all looking so well.
It really has been a privilege to be able to share in 'your' birds' stories, it was my first year and I hope there will be more to come, I've learnt a lot, gone through many emotions, and thoroughly enjoyed it all. ( barring a few sad bits)
I hope there will be more to come from the Maggies , who will have to find some new 'play things', but for now a big "Thank you".
Thank you. For watching and for your comments. And sharing your stories with us. We appreciate it very much.
Yes, these days are a little strange.
We know they are gone, but still we look at the spots where the gulls used to be. We will do that for some time.
Both the gull chicks were doing so fine, so we 'choose' to think the one left alone. We think it was capable of that. We don't know, but managing so well until now, it would have been very unfortunate and kind of unexpected if something happened at this time.
We will never know for sure, not being able to recognize them next year.
Yes, we are really impressed by Lady and Wing. It has been very nice to get to know them.
And we really hope we can build further on our friendship with them.
It will be much calmer days now, but the magpies seem to thrive being close to us, so we will most probably collect some more nice or interesting bird glimpses...
The magpies are inside our garden 'all the time', they have even started to try to play with our dogs (not being so sceptical to them anymore). Our dogs are very used to birds, so this trustfulness from the magpies is a good and promising change.
This year we have also learned a lot of new things, especially about the gulls. Very eventful, and surprising. Now we are looking forward to some (more) relaxed days.