Up-date on Seagulls in Randfontein

What he had once hoped for the Flock, he now gained for himself alone; he learned to fly, and was not sorry for the price that he had paid.
- From Jonathan Livingstone Seagull


Seagull - watercolour in Moleskine Watercolour sketch-book - 8" x 5" - Maree©

Every couple of weeks I have seagulls passing over my garden, and I've been wondering what they're doing so far in-land, 600km from the nearest coast. I decided to do a bit of investigating and contacted the Publicity Association in Randfontein with my query (you can read the previous post HERE).

The Association responded extremely quickly and said they would look into the matter. Here is an extract from the e-mail I received from Joy at the Publicity Association :

"HI Maree,

I have spoken to a few people and they have said that seagulls are scavengers and will basically land and stay in a place where there is food. I was told by BirdLife SA that seagulls are not necessarily associated with the sea - it's just their name that is.

The gulls that decided to stay in Randfontein were probably on their way somewhere when they discovered Uncle Harry's Roadhouse. The owner, Jimmy Pappas, says there used to be hundreds of the birds at the roadhouse and they would always feed them left over hamburgers and chips. At one point the birds would only eat the chips with barbeque sauce!

Jimmy also says they got very fat and never wanted to leave. He noticed fewer birds last year and was worried they may have been poisoned by contaminated water the mines pump out, but he's not sure. He says they normally come around towards and during winter, so we will have to wait and see.

Regards,

Joy"

Thank you for that fantastic information Joy and we just hope that the seagulls will be visiting Uncle Harry's again this winter.