So…do seagulls love French fries more than other foods, or do we just associate them with loving a French fry because French fry establishments are often situated in the habitat of a seagull?
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Gulls do not like sauerkraut. My ex spent considerable time out on the balcony at the coast feeding the gulls. They refused kraut. Everything else they would at least make a run at. Stupid gulls.
I mean, they are potatoes, fried and crispy, and easy to handle for both man and bird. Swooping in, grabbing a fry, and taking off. Their avian dinosaur ancestors should be proud.
i think it is more that they sense we love french fries, and since they hate us, they want to take away the things we love. if you've ever been pooped on by a seagull i think you'll agree that they hold us in utter contempt
From what I've seen of seagulls... the latter lol, they just love all of our food but french fry establishments are pretty common that seagulls eat french fries often
Honestly I think it’s both? Like seagulls are familiar with french fries because of their ubiquity along shore lines so they go for them first over other options since they already know it’s edible.
My understanding is gulls are opportunists, and what attracts them to fries at first is the fry making establishment inadequately securing their trash. Rats with wings indeed
After that do they develop a taste for fries? Why not? They’re easy to swallow and hit some good nutrient buttons
Combo of proximity, learned behavior and conditioning, and fries usually having salt+are easy for most bodies to break down into simple carbs and sugars?
It's also true that I've been sadder when a gull stole my french fries than when one stole my raw snails. That can play with our perceptions. I mean, I can't even remember the last time that I waited in line at the old raw aquatic invertebrates shack only to have a gull snatch them away.
Seagulls almost stole my baby sister once when i was little.
We were eating lunch at a rest stop on the way to the beach. Of course my sister was having french fries out of nowhere like 20 of these things came down on her and started going after her fries.
Okay, I was prepared for this to be an exaggerated joke statement, but I understand what you’re saying. I grew up near the beach, and they absolutely DESCEND on you like that. The wing noise and pinching is overwhelming.
It was insane. It was the first time in my life i had ever seen animals warm like that. My baby sister was actually lifted slightly off the ground from it before me and my mom could get there and swat them away.
Not that there was much i could have done my sister was like 4 and i was 6.
I mean, I've seen seagulls eat pigeon corpses. Those disgusting freaks are absolutely not picky. They just happen to come in contact with either bread or fries most often...
Before reading this I'd never seen an association with gulls and french fries, funny enough. Seems like most of the time I see gulls they're trying to somehow swallow an entire P. ochraeus and have arms sticking out their mouths at the silliest angles.
Friend of mine bought a chicken&chips at Manly. We sat down to eat it on the wall at the edge of the promenade. A seagull dove straight in as he was opening the box. He closed the box, seagull &all, & we stared in shock, then he opened it & held the seagull a bit to tell it off. We tossed the food.
I like to think i would have come up with the idea of taking it back to the restaurant and returning it for not being right, but given it took me several hours to think of it while *not* panicing about a gull in my food, it seems unlikely.
Later we did come up with the idea of bringing boxed gull to the shop to jokingly complain it was under-cooked. But what's done is done, at the time we were not able to make that leap.
I strongly urge you to Google: Llandudno seagull crimes
That's where my sister got her ice cream stolen out of her hand - not the cone, JUST the ice cream
French fries are logistically the best seagull food. Each fry is individually swallowable. They also easily fall on the ground unnoticed. Full of calories, and abundant: literally every eatery has them. It's like if you walked down the street and it was raining tacos every day
The wildest I've ever seen seagulls get was over potato chips (woe to the unfortunate tourist who tossed the last few from the bag and instantly got mobbed) so maybe it's just potato products in general, and I can't say I'd blame them.
Nah. They love French fries.
I had so many foods by the boardwalk... And the first things, and often only things they'd steal was the fries, and the containers they were in lol.
Sitting by the Houston Ship Canal, eating a seafood po'boy - tossed a long pickle slice into the air - gull caught it, carried it for a few seconds, dropped it - another gull caught it, did the same - this was repeated until the pickle slice passed from view. It might still be aloft as I type this.
Seagulls have made their way several hours drive inland here following garbage trucks. They are flying trash disposals and will eat just about anything.
I think it's that french fries are easier for them to carry off in flight than larger items like a whole burger. I've seen my fair share of crows with french fries as well
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After that do they develop a taste for fries? Why not? They’re easy to swallow and hit some good nutrient buttons
We were eating lunch at a rest stop on the way to the beach. Of course my sister was having french fries out of nowhere like 20 of these things came down on her and started going after her fries.
She still hates Seagulls 30 years later.
Not that there was much i could have done my sister was like 4 and i was 6.
Living in her white bread world
You know I can't afford to buy her pearls ...
Later we did come up with the idea of bringing boxed gull to the shop to jokingly complain it was under-cooked. But what's done is done, at the time we were not able to make that leap.
That's where my sister got her ice cream stolen out of her hand - not the cone, JUST the ice cream
So no. Though the Scots do love their chips, no.
2 names commonly used my area.
I had so many foods by the boardwalk... And the first things, and often only things they'd steal was the fries, and the containers they were in lol.
Not all English is American English yet gulls eat potato fingers regardless.
They eat pommes frites in France and sglodion in Wales.
😁
@carlbergstrom.com Think we can build a study that could get funded and keep some grad students in french fries to test Dr. Mack's hypothesis?
I betcha it could get corporate sponsors...
besides, nothing could possibly be more natural than loving
p o t a t o
Boardwalks tend to have a lot of dropped foods, and open air for the birds to swoop down and snatch. And fries just tend to be easy to grab for them.