Gulls nesting on my balcony again

[leon_heller]

The two adults were making a great deal of noise earlier tonight because I hadn't put any food out for them. I gave them some dried cat food and a couple of broken up digestive biscuits. I knew that the male liked them, but thought that the female didn't. She seems to have acquired a taste for them, however, and gobbled them up just as quickly as the male bird.

The youngsters' wing and tail feathers seem to be fully developed, they should be flying any day now. When that happens, the parents stop feeding them to force them to find their own food. I'll have to do the same.

[leon_heller]

They are about the same same size as the female now, they might even be bigger.

One of them was tapping on the window with its beak last night.

[leon_heller]

I'm quite sure that the youngster has been pecking at the window to attract my attention. It just happened again and although there was some dry food for them, it was making the call they make when they want feeding, so I put out one of the Whiskas sachets that my cat likes, they much prefer that or tinned cat food. That disappeared very quickly; the other youngster and the female came down from the roof, so I don't know how much the one doing the tapping actually got. It must be satisfied, anyhow, as it's gone back on the roof with its sibling and parent.

[leon_heller]

I hadn't seen much of the youngsters for the last few days, although I could hear them above me on the roof. One of them flew down to the balcony wall for the first time this morning, the other one walked down the slope of the roof.

I looked out of the window just now and they were on top of the chimneys of the house next door, so they must both be able to fly.

[Insomniak]

So, I'm guessing you've either stopped feeding them on the balcony or you've cut down the number of times you put out food for the gulls.
Is that why they're spending less time there?

Keep up the updates, it's great to know what they're up to and how they're progressing.
Thanks!

[Juliet1200]

How fantastic to see something positive about these wonderful birds. Normally all I see is people whinging about the noise and the mess

Juliet

[nightshade]

They are handsome birds. What are you going to do when the babies return as well to nest on your balcony?

[leon_heller]

I try to avoid putting food out when the youngsters are around but I'm still feeding the parents. The male spends most of his time up on one of the chimneys, he flew down just now when he heard me open the window and demanded to be fed. The youngsters must be away feeding. The female is usually to be found on the balcony wall, she must be away feeding this morning. The male ate some food, and then flew off.

It'll be interesting to see if the youngsters return here to breed. I'm not sure if the resident pair would allow it, they drive off any other gulls that land here.

The male has just returned, and is eating some more of the dried cat food I put out. It's quite funny to see him carefully picking out the non-brown pieces, I've mentioned before that they don't seem to like the brown food as much as the other colours.

[leon_heller]

Not much to report. The youngsters turn up every day or two for a bit of food and some fresh water, they are never together. I think that both of them are OK, as one of them (presumably the male) is bigger than the other one, but I'd really need to see them together to be certain. They must be finding plenty of food for themselves, as they couldn't possibly survive on what I've left out for the adults. The adults spend a lot of time here, as they've done since last spring, with the male up on one of the chimney pots and the female on the balcony wall. The youngsters sometimes keep begging for food from the parents, without success, and the parents seem to get annoyed and try to get away from them.

I had a walk along the sea front a few days ago, and there must have been about 100 of this year's youngsters in the sea just off the beach, and on the shore line. There were quite a few on the small islands in the boating lake.

[leon_heller]

One of the youngsters has just turned up, begging for food, and one of the adults regurgitated a small amount of cat food it had eaten previously. The youngster ate that, although there was some cat food in the bowl that it could have eaten. It then flew off.