When I was a kid in the 60’s and 70’s I don’t remember seeing gulls along the lakefront. These days they’re not only on all the beaches, harbors, etc. but I even encounter them hangin’ around grocery store parking lots up to a mile inland. Anyone know what happened in the past 30 years to attract the things?
I wondered the same thing.
I think it is the pizza
The roofs of the strip mall at Harlem & Dempster are filled with gulls. They are all over the parking lot. I, too, wonder where they come from and what they are doing so far from the lake. And why don’t they all just go back to the lake?
I tried to have a bird feeder, but between the gulls and pigeons, it was impossible. (I did have a weighted feeder bar that restricted direct access to the feeder.) I came home one day to find my a string of pigeons on my house, staring at the feeder. Between that and my neighbors, my nascent hobby ended.
Too bad these large ‘flying rat’ birds ruin it for the little guys.
Is a hawk a natural predator for gulls?
(I’ve always longed for pigeon birth control pills shaped like corn kernels.)
They’re evolving and adapting. Soon, they will take over the niche that once belonged to the Passenger Pigeon. Then, the sky will be dark with them.
There’s a group of them which hangs around in the parking lot of the strip mall at 31st Street and Wolf Road in Westchester, at least a dozen miles inland from Lake Michigan, and I’m certain that they’re not unique.
I have to guess that they’re scavenging garbage. With six fast-food restaurants, plus a grocery store, in that strip mall, I’m sure that there’s plenty for them to eat. Why leave such a reliable food source?