Various gulls and terns, taken as chicks and raised in captivity, are well tamed, but do not easily tolerate the loss of freedom. They often get sick and die. These are birds that, without a doubt, are best kept in the wild or in a large outdoor aviary. The smaller the chick, the more tame it will be when it grows up. Birds become completely tame and treat people with complete trust in those cases when not a chick, but a pecked egg is taken from the nest. An amazing thing: a chick that was hatched in a nest and has not yet dried out is noticeably less accustomed to it than one that was taken in an egg. The latter must be chosen when hatched, just before pipping or at the moment of it. The egg should be taken in the morning of a hot day so that development can continue without further incubation. However, our youths successfully warmed the taken eggs in their bosoms. If you have an incubator, even a homemade one, heated by a kerosene lamp, eggs can be taken at earlier stages of development.
Food for chicks of different types of gulls may be the same. The smallest chicks are given pieces of meat and fish, mealworms and earthworms, and bread soaked in milk. Grown-up chicks, like corvids, are very indiscriminate in their food.
The first herring gull I met was raised on the White Sea, in the Kandalaksha Nature Reserve. Here this species is a generally recognized destroyer of eider nests, a bird protected in the reserve. Therefore, a fight is being waged against the seagulls: their nests are destroyed, their chicks are destroyed. We adopted one such tiny downy chick. He lived freely, walked with eider whales, which were raised in captivity. Later he began to retire and always sat on the rocks near the seashore. We had a lot of fish - every day someone caught cod. All the entrails, and often the heads, went to Pinchik.
The little downy chick persistently followed people and screamed, asking for food. When he grew up and began to fly a little, there was no way to escape his pestering. Seeing a man, the chick flew straight towards him, sat down opposite him and screamed. Gradually, Pinchik began to provide food for himself in our bay: he walked along the littoral area during low tide, looked for something and found it. The time came when the bird completely switched to self-service and flew away from its usual stone for several hours. Our seagull could no longer be distinguished from other young, equally brown birds flying over the seashore. However, as soon as you shout “Pinchik”, she immediately reveals herself: she will falter a little in flight or even turn off the straight path, look carefully to see if the person has some kind of treat in his hands.
It just so happened in subsequent years that all our seagull pupils were called Pinchiki. The unforgettable Pinchik was raised with us on the Caspian Sea, in the Astrakhan Nature Reserve. It was a laughing gull, a southern subspecies of herring gull. She was taken as a pecked chick and fed mainly fish, partly meat different birds, most often terns.
The grown-up laughing gull easily swallowed young common terns whole. Coping with prey much larger in diameter than their own heads is an amazing ability of gulls. We were surprised by this back on the White Sea, watching how our northern Pinchik swallowed huge cod heads whole. In the Crimea, we witnessed that the main food of gulls and their chicks, which barely reached half the size adult bird, served gophers. The seagulls brought them to the nest in the crop and regurgitated them. The chick managed, albeit slowly, in several stages, to swallow the animal. In the same way, our Pinchik tried to swallow pieces of bird meat and fish heads of clearly inappropriate sizes. He struggled with some of them for a long time: several times he began to swallow and belched. Having made sure that the prey could not be swallowed, the chick threw it. He never tried, as birds of prey and owls do, to tear off a smaller piece from it with his beak.
Pinchik confidently walked around the village of the reserve. He had his favorite places that he visited constantly. By lunchtime, the chick, of course, ended up near the dining room
Here he always got a tasty morsel from Aunt Manya, the permanent chef. Pinchik became friends with a gloomy dog who lived under the pile construction of the dining room. This dog suffered from quiet insanity, so to speak about a dog. He used to be a normal, cheerful animal, but survived the “Night of St. Bartholomew”, when dogs were destroyed in order to combat rabies. Miraculously, the dog remained alive, but became afraid of people. For several years, almost never appearing during the day, he sat under the dining room, where he had once hidden from persecution. The dog trusted only Aunt Mana, who fed her. The molt boldly fed from the dog's bowl.
It was to this gloomy, black and shaggy creature that our Pinchik flew, boldly sat down near his bowl and selected from it everything edible that was left there. The dog crawled out from under the house and approached the seagull. She bounced and took off. Then the bird got used to the dog so much that it allowed it to come close. It seemed to me, however, that the desire to make friends was much greater in a lonely sick dog than in a frivolous seagull.
Pinchik lived according to a daily routine that was convenient for him, not for us, and flew wherever and whenever he wanted.
We had to paint Pinchik with blue ink from a fountain pen. This is how a “blue” gull appeared in the vicinity of the Damchiksky section of the reserve. She was often in the company of her wild relatives, but now even from a distance she could be distinguished from them. Pinchik's walks became increasingly distant and longer. There were days when we did not see him from morning to evening. However, at night he invariably flew to our house and settled down under the windows right on the ground. The experiments with Pinchik were completed (the amount of fish that the seagull consumes was determined). And it became unreliable to lead them: Pinchik was clearly feeding on the side. Now we were no longer afraid for our seagull and left it, leaving the reserve.
The common or black-headed gull is widespread throughout the country. This is a bird of inland fresh water bodies, which more often than others falls into the hands of people. In the Moscow region there is the famous, now reserved, Lake Kiyovo, where several thousand seagulls nest. This is the largest colony of river gulls, at least in the European part of the country.
It was from Kyiv that the seagulls came to us for upbringing and subsequent work. Several tiny yellow, spotted balls - newly hatched gulls - were brought to the Bolshevo biological station. There were even larger chicks; some even with feathers poking through the fluff. Only those who were taken as the tiniest ones, not yet dry, became truly tame.
The chicks were fed mainly raw meat. However, for variety, they were given fish, insects, and shellfish (without shells, of course). The birds grew well, but many developed tumors on their finger joints, this was a sign that the chicks did not have enough vitamins in their diet.
In the enclosure where the seagulls lived, there was a large pool with sloping banks, and the birds willingly swam and bathed in it. A small gate led from the enclosure to freedom. During the day it opened, and the seagulls came out for a walk freely. When birds began to fly, their first long journey was to the river. Since then, they only came home for lunch and overnight. Unfortunately, fewer and fewer birds were returning to us. On the river we sometimes heard shots and suspected that they were hitting our tame gulls: they fearlessly flew next to people and were not at all afraid of them. And so, when only three birds remained, we had to lock them in an aviary so as not to lose these last ones.
When all the experiments were completed, we again tried to release the chicks for a walk. They flew to the river and did not return.
Only the following spring, in April, did we meet our seagulls again. On the day these birds arrived from the south, we saw a flock of a dozen seagulls above our biological station. Three birds separated from the flock and began to descend in wide circles. They descended below the trees, below the house, made two circles above the enclosure and flew away. Could there be any doubt that our students flew to us!
Adult gulls in captivity can eat a lot: meat, raw and cooked, fish, cereals, various table scraps. They happily swallow mice, do not refuse earthworms, and are very fond of mealworms. These voracious birds can, of course, only be kept in the wild or in an outdoor aviary.
It is not difficult to feed various terns with fish (river, arctic, small) or meat (black, light-winged, white-cheeked). All of them are well tamed, especially if adopted as small, downy chicks.
Terns, like gulls, have an amazing ability to swallow huge chunks of prey. Arctic terns, which have not yet reached the size of adults, easily swallow bank voles - animals much larger than the house mouse.
Of the listed terns, the most common is the black tern." It is found even in the smallest bodies of water, even ponds. Taken chicks need to be fed quite often, every hour or two (later two to three times a day). In addition to meat, they need to be given various insects , preferably aquatic: larvae of dragonflies, water lovers, swimming beetles, as well as small fish whole or, worse, large fish in pieces.
During one of the expeditions we had to feed various marsh terns and at the same time travel around the fish farms of the Azov Sea coast. We always took the chicks with us. One day we had to wait a long time for a ship. The chicks were stuffy in their small box, so we decided to let them out for a walk. They were very necessary for work, and, not wanting to risk the terns, we tied a strong, harsh thread to the foot of each of them; holding the other end of it in your hand, you let the birds fly. When one of the terns took off, she pulled hard on the thread and tore it out of her hands. The bird began to rise, moving further and further into the sea. Tired of flying, she finally sat down on the water, but so far from the shore that she could hardly be seen. It took a long time to follow the bird. It’s good that Akhtarsky Bay is shallow and in the place where our tern was, the water barely reached the waist. The chick himself was apparently frightened by his unexpected walk. He swam towards the man and resignedly allowed himself to be pulled together.
It was one of the tamest terns I have ever seen.
Representatives of the gull suborder - Lari. Most often these are black-headed, glaucous and herring gulls, common terns, and in the northern regions - skuas.
Black-headed or common gull (Lams ridibundus) belongs to the gull family - Laridae. It is known to all nature lovers; it nests in colonies in inland waters, occasionally on sea coasts from England to Kamchatka, preferring the temperate climate zone. Black-headed gull - migrant, winters in the Mediterranean and South Asia.
It has pronounced seasonal color dimorphism. In summer the birds' heads are dark brown, almost black, and in winter they are white. Males and females are practically indistinguishable in color. The beak and paws are dark red. The wings are gray with black tips and a white stripe along the leading edge. Males and females do not differ in color. Seagull nests are made of grass and placed on driftwood, reed creases or hummocks. Sometimes they nest in mixed colonies with other species of gulls and terns. The clutch consists of 3 greenish-brown or bluish eggs covered with dark brown spots. Incubation lasts 24 - 26 days. The chicks hatch fully developed, but remain in the nest for a long time. If there is danger, they can go into the water and swim. On the water, fluffy little seagull chicks look like light boats. Young gulls begin to fly at the age of 40 days.
Natural food includes terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, fish, occasionally small rodents and birds, as well as grains of cultivated cereals,
In addition to lake gulls, zoos also keep herring gulls, common gulls, black-headed gulls, black-headed laughing gulls, spotted-billed terns and other terns.
Vladimir Ostapenko. "Birds in your home."
Not far from the dacha we have a small lake. My son Romashka was walking there with friends, we heard some kind of squeaking and my friends and I began to look for where the squeaking sound was. We found a chick in a ditch next to the lake. The children thought it was a duckling and so they dragged it to the water. But he stubbornly refused to go into the water. Then Roma brought this duckling to me. I couldn’t understand what kind of “chicken” it was and what to do with it. I went to the ornithologist in the “greenery”, well not far from us. There they told me that this is a SEAGULL chick! Most likely he was dragged away by a crow, but lost along the way. After listening to the story about raising seagulls, I was in a state of shock and went to the dacha with the little one.
I have two cats, a dog - and then a teapot. It shits at home, it's an eye and an eye and it's not so easy to feed, but there was nowhere to go, there were no people willing to take a teapot, and it was impossible to leave it on the street.
My cats are just GREAT. They got hit in the neck once when they wanted to devour a teapot and after that they began to guard it. It was amazing! 
At first, I let Masyanka out into the turtle’s enclosure for a day, but soon he began jumping out of there. 
And the cats followed him and guarded him. That was incredible! 
Then the parents found the teapot! First, two seagulls flew in, circled and screamed over the house for a long time, and the teagull screamed to them from the enclosure. From morning to evening they flew over the house, and sometimes a whole flock of seagulls flew in. 
After a couple of weeks, mom and dad seagulls began to descend to the ground, they were scared of people, but they became friends with the cat Stepanych! 
Masyanka was running all over the area. She only approached people when she saw a worm in their hands. And she ate from a bowl with steamed cats. There is a small fountain near the house, where she learned to swim. Her parents also had to be fed; I put food for them on the roof of the barn. 
The chick grew very quickly. But I didn’t go outside without my cats. He was afraid of other people's cats; more than once my cats saved his life. 
At one time he was so angular and funny. 
By September Masyanya had grown into one of sunny days A flock of seagulls began to circle over the site. Masyanya was sitting on the roof of the greenhouse......swing, higher and higher......ALL. It was very sad to say goodbye to this wonderful creature! The next day, seagulls circled in the sky above the house again, but not a single seagull landed. They flew and flew away and never came again. 
Of course, raising a seagull is a very troublesome and time-consuming process, the hardest part is making sure that someone doesn’t eat it, cleaning up after it, digging for worms BUT...... 
IT'S NOT GREAT TO RAISING A SEAGULL AND SEEING HIM FLIGHT AWAY.
THANK YOU TO MY CATS FOR CARING ABOUT MOSYANKA! 
Exists great amount amazing views birds that have unique features and characteristics. Among them is the famous gull bird - one of the most famous sea birds from the family of the same name and the order Charadriiformes. The ancient ancestors of gulls are considered to be waders, skuas, terns and cutwaters. Currently, ornithologists identify more than 60 varieties of the species with rare properties and characteristic appearance.
Seagull bird: what seagulls eat, where they winter
A significant part of them consists of medium-sized birds. The largest species includes sea gull weighing two kilograms and a body length of up to 80 centimeters. In turn, the smallest representative called little gull weighs only 100 grams and is no larger than a pigeon.
What does a seagull look like?
Almost all types of teas have the same appearance. The plumage of these cute birds is smooth and dense, with wings and a tail of medium length. For this reason, seagulls are excellent fliers, able to cover vast distances over water without much fatigue. In addition, birds perform complex tricks and maneuvers during flight. The presence of a thin, evenly pointed beak allows it to catch any prey, even if it is very slippery or viscous. Some individuals have a massive beak with a sharp tip at the end, which also makes them unsurpassed getters.
All species have webbed feet, which allow the bird to swim freely through the water. However, duck clumsiness, slowness and unbalanced coordination of movements, as is the case with other wild waterfowl, are absent. A seagull runs fast on land and swims just as fast in water.
The color of the plumage varies from white to black, while the ratio of one of the two shades is different. The most common coloration is represented by a light body, black wings and a dark head. In rare cases, it is possible to meet a single-colored gull. These individuals include representatives of the following species:
- White seagull;
- polar;
- gray;
- dark.
A very rare species pink seagull, which has an unusual soft pink plumage that can turn any photo into a real miracle. The color of the beak and paws is most often black, red or yellow. The anatomical differences between males and females are minor, but seasonal characteristics are very pronounced. For example, in the spring, a seagull begins to molt, and the winter color without bright colors becomes more beautiful. Young animals differ from adults by their characteristic brownish-variegated plumage.
Area. Where do seagulls spend the winter?
Seagulls are found almost everywhere. There is no continent or ocean where these birds have taken root. True, some species prefer exclusively tropical regions, some prefer the temperate zone, and there are also polar species. Anyway, the main condition when choosing a habitat is the presence of a body of water. But there are some nuances here too:
- some seagulls love the ocean expanses and the endless coasts of large and deep seas;
- others are found on rivers and lakes;
- still others live in desert oases;
Species that are found near marine coastlines tend to be sedentary, while those living on inland lakes and rivers often migrate seasonally.
Like other waterfowl species, seagulls prefer a gregarious lifestyle. They form obligate or facultative colonies. If we are talking about the first type, then more than several thousand individuals can live in one colony, which settle at a short distance from each other. Facultative colonies consist of one or several dozen gulls, and nests are installed at a distance of several meters from each other. For this reason seagulls have a pronounced signaling system.
Each species has a wide variety of sounds that are used as warnings of impending danger, the arrival of food, readiness to mate, and so on. The screams of representatives of the species are very loud and shrill. They can be heard from a distance of several hundred meters.
Individuals living on inland continental reservoirs with temperate climatic conditions go to warm sea regions for the winter.
What do seagulls eat
Many people associate peace and beauty with the seagull, imagining a romantic image of a bird soaring above the sea waves. But in reality, such calm behavior occurs only when there is an abundance of food supply. Otherwise, the cute bird turns into a daring, greedy and aggressive hunter who will enter the battle for a tasty piece of food without much thought. Birds manage to take other people's food and even attack small chicks. If danger arises in front of the flock, its members quickly gather together to give a worthy rebuff to the predator, no matter if it is a fox, a raven or a person.
The main part of the seagulls' diet is:
- Small squids;
- Remains of prey of large marine predators;
- Small fish;
When searching for food, birds circle over the water for a long time, fly long distances from the shore and track strange behavior in the upper layers of the water. Seagulls are often found near whales, dolphins and other predatory fish, as they chase schools of small fish and provide birds with an excellent field for searching for easily accessible prey, which rises to the surface, hoping for rescue. However, hungry seagulls are waiting for her there.
Birds are able to partially submerge in water, but they do not know how to make a deep dive. Nevertheless, the birds do not give up coastal hunting. Very often in coastal areas they look for the remains of the corpses of seals and fur seals, crabs, starfish, mollusks and other representatives of aquatic fauna. Seagulls do not hesitate to hunt eggs and chicks of other birds. Steppe and polar species prefer:
- insects;
- mice and voles;
- berries and some plants;
Today, the food supply of many species of gulls has greatly expanded due to proximity to traces of human activity. Seagulls move en masse to the vicinity of beaches, ports and city landfills. They learned to eat food waste and other food
Bird breeding
For all species, the breeding season occurs once a year. Birds are distinguished by their excellent fidelity to one partner, with whom they spend their entire lives. But if the female dies, the male looks for a new one. During the mating ritual, birds perform complex body movements, which involve nodding their heads, opening their belly plumage, meowing calls, etc.
In addition, before mating, the male picks up a small fish and presents it to his beloved in his beak. This seals their union.
The nesting season, depending on the habitat, begins in April-June. Gull nests are located either on sand or in grass, or on narrow ledges. Arctic gulls line their nest with grass, dry algae and reeds, which may seem like sparse bedding. Representatives of marine species make do with shell fragments and wood chips.
One female lays 1-3 motley eggs, which she incubates for 20-30 days. All this time, the caring male brings her food.
Chicks are born at intervals of 1-2 days. Moreover, unlike other bird species, Seagull babies are born sighted and well developed. Their body is covered with down, but they still lack the ability to move independently. The chicks can stay in the nest for no more than 2-6 days, after which they begin to move around the colony, getting to know other individuals. If the food supply is poor, adult gulls give the last piece to the older chick, which is why the younger one dies.
When danger is detected, the cubs hide strongly, and the thick fluff is an excellent camouflage against the background of sand and small pebbles. Puberty occurs at the age of 1−3 years, while the average duration reaches 15−20 years. Herring gulls can live even longer. By the way, the oldest bird from the gull family was a silverback, which reached the age of 49 years.
What are the dangers of birds?
Despite their agile behavior, the ability to fly quickly and an excellent warning system for approaching predators, seagulls are exposed to many dangers, including large bird of prey and terrestrial animals. Among the most important enemies of seagulls are:
- kites;
- falcons;
- foxes;
- arctic foxes;
- the Bears;
For centuries, seagulls lived quietly with each other and did not pose a threat to the ecosystem. But the noticeable decline in fish resources at the global level, which has been observed over the past few decades, has led many to consider the bird harmful. Some say that the activity of seagulls has a negative impact on fish stocks, which is why they are being killed en masse.
But in reality the situation looks a little different. People who lead a consumer lifestyle and want to take from nature everything they can imagine, simply exterminate birds out of greed and the desire to enrich themselves by any means.
In fact, seagulls bring great benefits to the coast, because they eat animal waste and leftover food, being the best orderlies. It is important to note that some species of gulls are on the verge of extinction and require enhanced conservation measures. These include the following types:
If radical measures are not taken and the protection of these species is not taken seriously, in a few years they will simply disappear from the face of the earth. Many species of gulls remain widespread in different regions of the world, but human activity, environmental changes and other factors greatly influence their numbers. Every year it is imperceptibly decreasing. Therefore, in order to protect birds from death, it is better not to disrupt their natural life cycle.
Today Vladimir resident Victoria Yarlykova told us that a river gull lives in her home. As the girl said, she found the bird the day before yesterday on the lawn near the Pedagogical Institute. The bird could not take off, and Victoria decided to catch it in order to save it from death.
- The seagull was running on the grass with wings spread to the side, - said Victoria. - When I came closer, I realized that the bird was wounded and could not fly. I carefully covered the bird with my jacket and took it to my home. When she arrived, she let the new tenant out for a walk around the loggia, and she went online. Unfortunately, there is very little information about the maintenance of these birds. When you enter the word seagull, instead of a bird, information about cars appears.
Character a wild and freedom-loving inhabitant of river spaces is unique. As the girl admits, the bird every now and then tries to peck or pinch people. Therefore, the wayward guest was named Kusaka. The only thing that appeases the seagull is delicious portions of fish.
- Bites if I can put it that way, it's strong enough, - the girl laughs. - A very brave bird, ready to rush into battle at any moment. But gradually we get used to each other. I feed her pieces of fresh fish. Sometimes you have to catch the shrew and literally force it into its beak. I hope the wing heals soon.
By assumption savior Kusaka, her ward’s wing is not broken, which leaves a chance for a successful outcome. Victoria is going to show the bird to the veterinarian this afternoon, who will give the final verdict.
- Think, my guest just hurt herself on the wires,- the interlocutor shared her opinion. - Kusaka is noticeably better, in my opinion there are no serious injuries. If so, then I will release her. Of course, maybe it will be possible to place Kusaka in an animal rescue center... But if they refuse to accept her, and she can’t take off, I’ll keep her. The most important thing is to persuade my mother to leave her with us.
By the way, To make her brother Jonathan Livingston’s living in her apartment more bearable, the girl gave her not only a loggia. Victoria separated part of the room with a net, removed her things and built an impromptu pool. And as it turned out, all this was not in vain...
- The other day, a friend found a seagull chick,- Vika added to her story. - And I took my seagull to her for the night. When we planted them together on the balcony, at first we were afraid that the big one would bite the little one. But it turned out to be the other way around, the little one rushed to peck at the big one... And the next day they slept almost together. That's it, now we have two beautiful seagulls.
How realistic will it be? keep a seagull at home? For this comment, we turned to Denis Dudenkov, senior researcher at the Museum of Nature. According to the specialist, keeping such a bird is quite troublesome and expensive. He also helped identify the exact species of the bird.
- This is an ordinary glaucous gull, - commented Denis Dudenkov. - Quite a common species in our city in Lately. Nowadays, seagulls do not hesitate to fly to garbage dumps and landfills in search of affordable food. Consequently, they are increasingly becoming “victims” of the city’s unfavorable factors. As for maintaining the house, I think she will still be better off free. The bird is very demanding, and most importantly, “dirty”. If you don’t prepare normal conditions, your apartment will soon turn into a real chicken coop.
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By the way:
Wingspan This type of seagull reaches 120 centimeters. The weight of the bird can reach up to 550 grams. Life expectancy is 25 years. The bird reaches a size of up to 50 centimeters. They migrate to North Africa for the winter. They feed on fish, frogs, worms, insects, plant parts and waste.
Previously we wrote: A city woman saves a crow, which
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