Lesser Black-backed Gull with Common Eider duckling
In another rather graphic image illustrating gull predation on Common Eider (see www.flickr.com/photos/luminouscompositions/54604470082/in... ), this Lesser Black-backed Gull has taken a duckling. Again, the circumstances are unclear, since the young Common Eider seems to have been among seaweed away from the water and from others of its clan. Common Eiders females are constantly on the alert for threats or danger to their young, be it from other females (see www.flickr.com/photos/luminouscompositions/54602519412/in... ), from males, or from predators such as gulls. Nevertheless, a high number of their offspring perish at a tender age — which is of course a general rule among most organisms: otherwise numbers would be be unsustainable. There may also be some drawbacks to the creche system that Common Eider have adopted to care for their young (see www.flickr.com/photos/luminouscompositions/54599440024/in... ), in that although there is ‘strength in numbers’ individual ducklings that stray for whatever reason are susceptible to being picked off or suffering injury.
This incident happened at the Garðskagi lighthouse near Garður, a small town on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the region of Suðurnes, southwestern Iceland.
I’m not a”gull-ophile,” living as I do in a landlocked province of Western Canada over 600 km from the nearest ocean. We do have some gull species in Alberta, but I cannot claim to be particularly knowledgeable about the family. All that to preface the thought that gulls often get a bad rap, when they are far from the only predatory type of bird (including on other birds). Certainly gulls have an impact on many bird species, but then many species also face predation from other birds such as raptors. So there is the ongoing interplay happening.
One possibility to consider: Gulls are generally very adaptable and many have benefited from human food sources, which presumably has led to population increases — which may in turn have resulted in greater pressures on the species of birds they do at times prey upon.
Lesser Black-backed Gull with Common Eider duckling
In another rather graphic image illustrating gull predation on Common Eider (see www.flickr.com/photos/luminouscompositions/54604470082/in... ), this Lesser Black-backed Gull has taken a duckling. Again, the circumstances are unclear, since the young Common Eider seems to have been among seaweed away from the water and from others of its clan. Common Eiders females are constantly on the alert for threats or danger to their young, be it from other females (see www.flickr.com/photos/luminouscompositions/54602519412/in... ), from males, or from predators such as gulls. Nevertheless, a high number of their offspring perish at a tender age — which is of course a general rule among most organisms: otherwise numbers would be be unsustainable. There may also be some drawbacks to the creche system that Common Eider have adopted to care for their young (see www.flickr.com/photos/luminouscompositions/54599440024/in... ), in that although there is ‘strength in numbers’ individual ducklings that stray for whatever reason are susceptible to being picked off or suffering injury.
This incident happened at the Garðskagi lighthouse near Garður, a small town on the Reykjanes Peninsula in the region of Suðurnes, southwestern Iceland.
I’m not a”gull-ophile,” living as I do in a landlocked province of Western Canada over 600 km from the nearest ocean. We do have some gull species in Alberta, but I cannot claim to be particularly knowledgeable about the family. All that to preface the thought that gulls often get a bad rap, when they are far from the only predatory type of bird (including on other birds). Certainly gulls have an impact on many bird species, but then many species also face predation from other birds such as raptors. So there is the ongoing interplay happening.
One possibility to consider: Gulls are generally very adaptable and many have benefited from human food sources, which presumably has led to population increases — which may in turn have resulted in greater pressures on the species of birds they do at times prey upon.