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Herring Gull chicks on my balcony! — Parallax Forums

Herring Gull chicks on my balcony!

LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
edited 2010-06-22 08:23 in General Discussion
Nothing to do with Parallax (I hope they don't mind), but they are very cute:

www.flickr.com/photos/79459751@N00/sets/72157624176330751/

They hatched about six days ago.

I thought of selling them on Ebay. smile.gif

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Leon Heller
Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

Post Edited (Leon) : 6/21/2010 2:30:43 PM GMT

Comments

  • TonyWaiteTonyWaite Posts: 219
    edited 2010-06-21 15:38
    Hi Leon,

    Those chicks are gorgeous! Herring gulls are our favorite scavengers and we feed them and the
    foxes every night! I know that some folk consider them vermin, so we may as well confess that
    we also put grain down for Ratty too. Long live life!

    Regards,

    Tony + Jan
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-06-21 16:04
    I've seen foxes and badgers near here a couple of times. One of my neighbours goes out every night to feed them but he doesn't like gulls.

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    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM
  • Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi)Phil Pilgrim (PhiPi) Posts: 23,514
    edited 2010-06-21 16:23
    Thanks for sharing those photos, Leon! As with pigeons, one rarely sees gull chicks for some reason. Where I live, there are gulls in abundance, but I don't recall ever seeing a nest, much less a clutch of chicks.

    -Phil
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-06-21 16:36
    Their nests are usually in inaccessible places, like cliff tops and roof tops. I feel rather privileged to have this family outside my window. Their numbers have been declining in the UK, and they are officially on the "red list" as an endangered species.

    The adults sometimes beg for food, the same way as the chicks do, with a special call and head-tossing movement. They've brought back a fish on a couple of occasions, and something that looked like shellfish, that they've regurgitated for the chicks.

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    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

    Post Edited (Leon) : 6/21/2010 4:46:19 PM GMT
  • GranzGranz Posts: 179
    edited 2010-06-22 01:24
    Leon said...
    Nothing to do with Parallax (I hope they don't mind), but they are very cute:

    www.flickr.com/photos/79459751@N00/sets/72157624176330751/

    They hatched about six days ago.

    I thought of selling them on Ebay. smile.gif

    Au contrair! This can easily have a lot to do with Parallax. How about taking a cheapie digital camera and hacking the shutter release to an external cable, then hook up a Stamp or a Prop to take periodic pics for watching them grow up? Maybe put a Ping))) sensor on and take pics when there is movement or only when a bird is present? How about trying to have the controller try to capture the first attempts at flight hop.gif - might even prove more entertaining than the video of the first Wright Flier maiden cruise!

    See, we can even incorporate control systems into bird watching.

    Looking forward to seeing the pics.

    Art
  • LeonLeon Posts: 7,620
    edited 2010-06-22 08:23
    I've got a webcam on the nest. It's got IR illumination so I can see the chicks on my laptop at night without getting out of bed.

    I've got an ADI Blackfin board that can do video processing etc.

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    Leon Heller
    Amateur radio callsign: G1HSM

    Post Edited (Leon) : 6/22/2010 8:31:02 AM GMT
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