Poor baby seagull

jaffacake

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Today after work someone I work with from upstairs rang me because he thought I was still upstairs working. There was a baby seagull on the doorstep and as he`d gone in it had stepped inside. So he shoo`s it out and I say goodbye.

5 minutes later I hear all this sqwauking outside my window and voices so I went out. There was an old guy on my drive asking me if I`d seen a baby seagull that had just fallen down the side of my window. He said it was being mobbed by the full grown birds and then he went.

So I climbed down and there he was so I went and got my bath towel and caught it. You could see where the others had been pecking at it`s head and something was wrong with it`s right eye. This picture is bad quality but I didn`t want to frighten it anymore. ( If you look at the second hole in from the right on the top row of the door thats his eye and the next hole you can see his beak )



Luckily we have an RSPCA wildlife center not too far away so someone took us out there. I was really hopefull but when the guy took him out of the carrier he looked at his eye and said the eye was missing

He said it was an old injury or he may have been born without it and that he had more than likely just fledged from a nest on the roof.

I was hoping this would be better than the last one I took in but I don`t think I`ve ever seen one with one eye in the wild, so to speak.

Poor little guy
 

liza24

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healing vibes to that lil one, poor thing!!!
 

rugthugs

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Oh seagulls are tough old birds (sorry couldn't resist)
I grew up in Florida. Saw tons of healthy adult gulls missing feet, legs, eyes.
he'll be fine.
 

calico2222

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Over the river and through the woods...
If it's an old injury and is already healed or he was born with it missing (it can happen I guess) then that shouldn't be a problem now. What other injuries does he have? I don't know that much about birds, but if it is healed I don't see why he can't live a normal life. I'm guessing bird's brains compensate for the lack of sight in that eye just like other animals, including humans. If there isn't any other major injury he should be fine, right?
 

stormy

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Aww, poor guy! Sending lots of good vibes his way.
 
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jaffacake

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There were no other injuries that I could see but the guy said he was proably only just fledged.

All the full grown birds were mobbing him and you could see were they`d been going for his head.

I don`t know much about birds either but I was thinking their visual field is different to ours so they may not compensate so well. Maybe they will tell me how he is if I e-mail them. They have hundreds of seagulls there so he`s in good company
 

chausiefan

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I see you are located in the uk do you know what species of sea gull it is? seems to be either a herring gull or a LBB gull

THe adult birds attacking it were probably another species called Great blak backed gulls

These are very large gulls extremly predatory and specialize in preying on newly fledged sea gulls of other species

so the bird was saved from being predated on ive seen this done so many times when a gull gets a hold of a pigeon and starts tearing it up someone will come to the rescue and save the pigeon on the ground

gulls can be extremly nasty but its nature they gota be that way to survive
 
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jaffacake

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Yes, I`m sure it was a Herring gull. They are the one`s that nest on our roof.The only other kind I see are on the sea front where there are a lot of fishing boats.

I`m a bit disappointed because this morning when I got up there was anouther baby outside on the wall eating out of the bin. It was hobbling along and seemed to be in a fair amount of pain holding the leg up and not really weight bearing. I couldn`t catch it though and it flew off
I haven`t seen it come back but I only work next door so I`ll keep an eye out for it.
But I`m never sure when it is right to interfer.
 

missourigrl

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Aww, poor little guy. You're just like me. If I see a hurt animal I always try and help it. Thanks to you he's got a better chance at life, even if he's only got one eye.
 

~sootycat~

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Oh my goodness, that is really sad! I am a total bird lover and really hate to see other birds being injured. I hope he can recover fully even if he only has one eye. Seagulls are a lovely bird, it's fun to see them come up to you at the beach wanting food, I always give them something lol.
Hopefully he gets better real soon.
 
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