I hold up in Philadelphia , which is a fast enough campaign to the Jersey Shore when traffic is good , but still pretty far from the ocean . Yet , the parking fate of my local food market stock is almost always full of seagulls . What pass ?
Well , ornithologists will guide out , “ seagulls ” are more accurately called gulls and while they do like to be near piss , they do n’t purely live by the sea . TheRing - placard gullprefers the interior of the country , and some never even get near the ocean . Thegrey gullis commonly base on the western seacoast of South America , but point forth from the shore and into Chile ’s Atacama Desert to breed . Even theHerring gull , which the Cornell University ornithology research laboratory calls the quintessential “ gull , ” can be found pretty far inland during both the summer breeding time of year and the wintertime .
Pennsylvania is attractive to gulls , harmonise to the State Department ’s game commission , because it sits between two major gull population centers : the Atlantic Coast and the Great Lakes . It ’s a good spot to make a irregular household ( or even a lasting one — both Ring - bill and Herring patsy are yr - round residents in some areas ) , and there ’s plenty to use up .
“ Gulls come to Pennsylvania because it ’s convenient , ” writes Joe Kosack , a Wildlife Conservation Education Specialist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission , “ and because it has rivers that are loaded with small aquatic critters they eat readily , C of restaurants that serve degenerate solid food indirectly to sucker , and plenitude of parking mint to loaf in . ”
The chump are pull to parking lots mainly for two ground . The first is food . sucker are timeserving affluent and will eat most affair that are available to them , rather than specializing in one kind of target or food . They ’ll feed on fish , insect , low rodents , fruit and a lot of things discarded by human . Parking stack offer plentitude of trash and scraps , especially if there ’s a supermarket or restaurant there , by way of Dumpster , garbage cans , and people who ca n’t be bothered to apply either of those . Plus , manicured grass and other landscaped patches around the sidewalk can be dear places to look for bugs .
The second thing that parking lots have going for them is that they ’re roomy , clear and flat . This allow the gulls to congregate en masse shot near intellectual nourishment source and gives them unmortgaged view in all directions so they can keep an eye out for risk .
