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Gulls | Gull Overview | Gull Damage Assessment | Gull Damage Management | Gull Resources | Gull Acknowledgments | ICWDM | Wildlife Species Information |
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Living with Gulls
Several gull species have adapted to existing in proximity to people, taking advantage of landfills for food. For example, the ring-billed gull population in the Great Lakes region has been increasing at about 10% per year since the early 1970s (Blokpoel and Tessier 1984). Gulls are the most serious bird threat to flight safety at airports (Solman 1981). They are increasingly causing nuisance problems in urban areas by begging for food, defacing property, contaminating municipal water supplies, and nesting on roof-tops. In rural areas, gulls sometimes feed on fruit crops, consume fish at aquaculture facilities, eat duck eggs and kill ducklings, and compete with threatened bird species for nest sites.
Summary of Damage Prevention and Control Methods
Exclusion
Construct complete enclosures of plastic or wire mesh.
Suspend parallel wire or monofilament strands over area needing protection.
Use porcupine wires on roosting sites.
Cultural Methods
Reduce or eliminate sources of food, water, and nesting or resting sites.
Frightening
Auditory and visual frightening devices can be effective for limited time periods.
Avitrol®.
Repellents
Polybutenes.
Toxicants
DRC-1339.
Trapping
Rocket or cannon netting over bait. Box trapping over nests and eggs.
Spotlighting and netting by hand at night.
Shooting
Shooting with rifle or shotgun under special permit.
Other Methods
Removal of nests, eggs, and young. Sterilization of eggs.
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Gulls | Gull Overview | Gull Damage Assessment | Gull Damage Management | Gull Resources | Gull Acknowledgments | ICWDM | Wildlife Species Information |
