# Do seagulls ever perch on trees?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 13, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745 "2008-06-13T01:06:03Z")
**Posts on this page:** 12
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/1 "2008-06-13T01:06:03Z")
Seagulls…I know they have webbed feet and all, but has any one ever seen them perched in a tree? Do/can they land on a tree branch? That goes for any webbed-foot birds.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/2 "2008-06-13T01:22:55Z")
A pelican… [can](http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/southamerica/utilakeys07.shtml)
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### Author:  [@SharkB8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SharkB8)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/3 "2008-06-13T03:39:20Z")
[QUOTE=astro]
A pelican.. [can](http://www.traveladventures.org/continents/southamerica/utilakeys07.shtml)
[/QUOTE]
Wow…you’re good! 😃
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/4 "2008-06-13T04:24:03Z")
I have seen gulls perch on dead tree limbs, poles and palm trees. They seem to prefer a perch with nothing in the way of their take-off and view.
However, here we have \*\*colibri \*\*who is a big time bird expert. I am sure he’ll be here to mend his expertise soon.
psst, it’s now “gull” not “seagull”
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### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/5 "2008-06-13T04:55:40Z")
Ducks are webfooted and seem as unlikely as gulls to be found in trees. However, the aptly named wood duck nests in trees. And here’s a picture somebody snapped of a mallard duck perching in a tree:
[http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/img-fauxwood-duck.html](http://www.rideau-info.com/canal/img-fauxwood-duck.html)
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### Author:  [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/6 "2008-06-13T04:57:21Z")
I was surprise to look out my window a few months ago to see a mallard perched on a branch about 8 cm in diameter. On the other hand, [wood ducks](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wood_Duck) nest in tree cavities, so I’m sure they perch in trees as well.
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### Author:  [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/7 "2008-06-13T05:53:36Z")
Our gulls do perch in trees, but I’ll be damned if I can find a picture of one on the interweb. I see them doing fairly frequently, though.
They do it all the time in the mangroves along our coasts, and I also see them in other trees away from beach.
This [link](http://vtecostudies.blogspot.com/2006/10/weekly-bird-notes-13-october.html) refers to the Bonaparte’s Gull, which breeds in Canadian forests and [nests in trees](http://content.ornith.cornell.edu/UEWebApp/images/bna_TWG_BonapartesGull_L.jpg).
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/8 "2008-06-13T16:56:56Z")
[QUOTE=DrDeth]
However, here we have \*\*colibri \*\*who is a big time bird expert. I am sure he’ll be here to mend his expertise soon.
[
[/QUOTE]
**L** end. :smack: :smack:
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 13, 2008, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/9 "2008-06-13T18:46:35Z")
It’s certainly not typical, but they are capable of doing it on occasion:
[http://aditl.com/alaska/newell.jpg](http://aditl.com/alaska/newell.jpg)
As **Bambi** has already mentioned, [Bonaparte’s Gull](http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Bonapartes_Gull.html) nests in trees.
Many kinds of web-footed birds nest on or among tree branches, including pelicans, cormorants, boobies, anhingas, and frigatebirds. Quite a few species of ducks nest in tree holes.
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### Author:  [@Mongrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongrel)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/10 "2020-11-30T02:57:22Z")
Hay colibri now so ya seem to know abit about birds (so called ment to know) so why do common Gulls hang around tops of certain 2 gum trees where I live, as there about 50 Gulls on the hour of dusk flying around, over and in these 2 gumtrees near my mums and just secs before it’s to dark most fly off and well I haven’t been able to find a honest answer to why they are doing it as its very non normal for them to be doing it (actually said to me mum that reminds me of the show zoo lol)
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### Author:  [@Mongrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mongrel)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/11 "2020-11-30T03:00:00Z")
They only can due to there big feet or they wouldn’t be able to but as also they only can land in certain trees as if they land on a small one then they find them self’s free falling lol
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2020, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-seagulls-ever-perch-on-trees/452745/12 "2020-11-30T05:27:16Z")
Allow me to be the first to welcome you to the Straight Dope.
Let’s see. You have revived a thread that has been dead for 12 years, but fortunately for you, Colibri is still an active poster here, so he can possibly answer your question(s) – if he can parse it/them. Folks might insert a joke or two about zombies due to the long-time dormancy of this thread prior to your revival of it.
You may find your welcome here more assiduous if you are willing to construct actual sentences, with punctuation and some sort of stopping place other than “lol.” It’s nothing personal, but those things really do make your posts easier to understand. Good luck with your question.