Seagulls are becoming unwelcome guests at Bayshore Village in Morro Bay.
Seagulls are again being pests for a Morro Bay condominium neighborhood, which asked the City Council for a little relief.
The homeowners association for Bayshore Village, a condo development off south Main Street adjacent to Morro Bay State Park, asked the City for permission to remove seagull nests and to “haze and harass gulls and to remove gull nests from their property and carryout addling of Western Gull eggs,” reads a report on the matter.
According to a Google search, “Addling means ‘loss of development.’ It commonly refers to any process by which an egg ceases to be viable. Addling can happen in nature when incubation is interrupted for long enough that eggs cool and embryonic development stops. People addle where they want to manage bird populations.” The City Council approved the item, 4-1 with Councilwoman Zara Landrum opposed.
Bayshore Village sits adjacent to the bay and has numerous tall eucalyptus trees along its perimeter. But even with perfectly good natural habitats all around, the gulls have nested on the rooftops for many years, and the HOA has asked the City for permission to drive them away at least twice before. The last time was in 2020, and the recent Council approval extended that OK.
Morro Bay is a self-declared bird sanctuary with various protections written into its Municipal Codes, including a prohibition on harassing literally any birds.
As another example, another City code prohibits tree trimming during nesting season, though there are workarounds like when a tree is deemed a danger to public safety.
Harassing pesky seagulls is not new in Morro Bay.
Seagulls tend to nest just about anywhere and have been found on everything from commercial buildings to boats moored in the harbor.
There are a number of methods to deter nuisance birds — mainly pigeons and seagulls — including netting and mesh, spike strips and natural predators.
The City has used hawk wranglers on the Embarcadero to scare gulls and drive them off the buildings and back into the wild environs. The high school also has a hawk wrangler to try and manage its gull and crow populations.
But if one wishes to harass birds in Morro Bay, they need the City’s permission.
“The City Council adopted Resolution No. 100-20 on Nov. 17, 2020, finding the Gulls located within the Bayshore Village complex to be a public nuisance and thereby allowing removal of the Gull nests for a period of five years, expiring on Dec. 31, 2025,” reads the report from Community Development Director Airlin Singewald.
The HOA said the birds at it again and they want to minimize the damage done by their droppings. “The HOA continues to experience problems with the number of nesting Gulls on the property. The HOA indicates that the guano damages roof shingles and creates a health hazard to residents,” the report said.
But even with the City’s OK, the HOA still needed to ask Uncle Sam.
“The Bayshore Village HOA is also required to obtain a predation permit from the United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS),” the report explained. “The HOA has obtained such approvals in each of the past five years.”
Seagulls are a protected species in the U.S. under various Federal Laws, including the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. That law makes it illegal to harm, transport, capture, or sell seagulls, their nests or eggs. However, here too it can be done as a means of nuisance control, provided one first obtains a Federal Take Permit from U.S.F&WS.
Biologically speaking, there is no actual “seagull,” species; rather, gulls are a family of bird species that has numerous varieties, almost all of which are protected under the Migratory Bird Act.
According to Hawkeye, a company that specializes in bird and animal control, “Most gulls are migratory birds and as such are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. In its conception, the act was first passed between only the United States and Canada, but later amended to include Mexico, Japan, and Russia.”
They may not be at the top of the food chain, but they have few natural enemies. “Gulls actually don’t face a whole lot of threats,” according to Hawkeye. “They are extremely intelligent, resilient, and resourceful birds. The biggest threat in terms of predators are birds of prey, mainly eagles, falcons, and hawks. On the ground, they may also face foxes and weasels. This goes both for the birds and their nests or eggs and offspring.”
The company cautions that there is no do-it-yourself method of getting rid of pesky gulls. “The single most humane AND most effective way to deal with colonies of seagulls is birds of prey,” the company said. “It is also the most environmentally friendly method, as nature intended.”
Apparently, using hawks like the City does on the Embarcadero and the high school as well, is effective. Birds of prey take advantage “of the natural predator/prey relationship between birds of prey and seagulls. The gulls are dispersed without harm and will not return with the threat of a raptor in the area.”
Gulls are also not the only problematic animals in town, boat and dock owners have long had issues with California sea lions that now live permanently inside the harbor and regularly haul out on floating docks and boats.
Those critters are protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which restricts the methods that can be used to harass them back into natural areas.
A City floating dock out in the Bay off Kickers Restaurant has been given over to the sea lions as a haul out, and they’ve actually become somewhat of a tourist attraction.
Occasionally, someone will approach a wild sea lion hauled out on a dock or on the rocks at the edge of the bay and some have been bitten. An 800-pound bull sea lion is a formidable animal, and you should never get close to them.
And anyone dining outdoors on the Embarcadero is in danger of having their food raided by marauding seagulls.
