Keep the birds for Mr.Hitchcock....

[Kit-Ginevra]

Please.To all our customers that go outside and enjoy the sun and to the random passers-by.Do not feed the gulls. They are not cute. They are evil little beasties. They will come and rip the pasty/sandwich/burger/chips out of your hand.
We have several instances a week of this happening-they will snatch the ice cream cone out of darling sprog's hand and leave them wailing.
People have not only lost their yummy goods,but also come close to being injured-a whack by a wing or a peck can hurt.They see food,they assume it's for them and they will come and get it. They move fast. And you feeding them only encourages them.
That is why it says in big signs DO NOT FEED THE GULLS. It's not because we are meanies.It's to keep you safe,well-fed and not missing a body part...

[Jester]

Local musician down here says it often: "Don't feed the pigeons. They have enough ammunition already."

[Catwoman2965]

I hate them. My friend and her DH have a place at the beach. So one day they're there, and having lunch. She warned him he might want to hold his sandwich a bit closer in, but no, he knew better. Well, a gul swooped down, adn snatched it out of his hand. he got so mad he chucked a shoe at it, and HIT a woman a little further down. Oops. thankfully she wasn't too angry, but i was cracking up when she told me that story.

[fireheart]

We've had the experience of being mauled by both seagulls and parrots. Funnily enough, these both happened interstate.

Case #1: Out in Victoria, we stopped near Warnambool for lunch. Bought about $5 of hot chips, sat down at a park and had lunch. BIG mistake.
While we were good and got MOST of the chips, the seagulls would occasionally be begging for fries and my parents threw one to them. (One amusing moment involved one bird grabbing it only for it to be snatched from his beak )
Eventually it turned into birds basically storming the table and grabbing fries straight off the paper. We abandoned ship pretty quick

Case #2: This was planned, but we didn't expect this to be as bad!
Up in the hinterlands in Queensland, there was this nice place where you could buy birdseed to feed the parrots in the area. We bought a bag and followed the instructions.
My dad on the other hand...since he was the one holding the bag, he got mobbed BIG time. He had birds on his shoulders, head, arms, you name it. He got scratched and the birds were in a frenzy.

We didn't blame the keeper for that one since the birds WERE wild.

[Marmalady]

Kit-Ginevra, do you by any chance live south of the River Tamar?

Only, last time I was on holiday in that part of the country, there were signs almost everywhere asking people not to feed the gulls. Various people had been hurt, some small children quite seriously so.

[Gaki]

Where I used to live there's a place where geese and ducks crowd around you looking for hand-outs and the Canadian geese get pretty brutal about it. You have to know what to do when they try to snatch your sandwiches.

The most important thing to remember with those geese is that YOU chase THEM, not the other way around. You start running from them and you're toast. They'll have your sandwich and probably a piece of your finger if you start running from them.

But that's just them. I dunno about gulls. I've only ever been mobbed by geese (which is pretty scary...but I'm scarier.)

[eltf177]

I wonder, how many times per day are you expected to replace the lost treats for free?

[Pixilated]

People think it's cute the way the gulls come looking for food (I've made that mistake myself). Then you feed the one or two on the ground and suddenly ... yeah, it's exactly like a scene from the Hitchcock movie!

[mikoyan29]

I like gulls but yeah, what starts as feeding one gull turns into a sort of social experiment for birds.

[SongsOfDragons]

One of the funniest things we've done is throw some cheese savouries onto the sunroof of the car, then pull in and close the door very quickly. We just saw orange webbed feet doing a crazy dance on the sunroof for the goodies ^^

[taxguykarl]

When then GF (now Mrs. TGK) & I sat at the outdoor seats in an LA restaurant (Ports Of Call, IIRC), we opted for the brunch buffet and had to take turns picking up food as the gulls were getting pretty aggressive. I took to keeping one hand clenched in a fist as a warning to those feathered food-nappers.

[An Haddock]

"Mine?"

"Mine?"

"Mine?""Mine?""Mine?""Mine?""Mine?""Mine?""Mine?"" Mine?"

[sms001]

Kit-Ginevra, do you by any chance live south of the River Tamar?

I think gulls are about the same level of obnoxious everywhere Lady M.

"Mine?"

lol - first thing I thought of too. And a good thing, as my mother took me to see 'Birds' in the theatre when it came out, and I'd disliked them for that right up until 'Nemo.' Although they are magnificent flyers.

[MoonCat]

Aw. I like gulls. I know they can be a nuisance though. Although the few times I've tossed leftover bread or whatever for them, as soon as it's gone they take off. I've never seen them actually land on a person. We have ringbills here, maybe other types of gull are more aggressive?

Funny story: There's a little restaurant at the harbor downtown. Years ago my sisters were there for some event and bought popcorn. The store burned it so badly, even the gulls wouldn't eat it!

[Caffienated_Caramel]

I haven't dealt with the locals seagulls taking my food yet but I have seen crows/ravens and sparrows fighting over a big chunk of bread at an intersection.

I recall someone on here got chased by a peacock? Who was that? I don't remember who.