Yesterday a friend of mine, knowing of my interest in gulls, asked a
question that I've asked myself many times. What are those gulls doing
with those starfish?
It is an uncommon but regular sight to see a gull with a medium-sized
starfish wrapped around its bill and adjacent face. So what goes? Is the
gull actually trying to eat the starfish (or is it the other way around?)
Is the gull ever successful --- or is it a mistake that the gull has to
live with until the starfish dies? Does the starfish eventually die, or
just weaken and fall off? Is it only Glaucous-winged Gulls that are either
smart enough to know how to eat a starfish or dumb enough to get caught?
Does anybondy anywhere else in the world (outside of the Pacific
Northwest) see this behavior?
Ron LeValley
=============================
From: Bill Principe <principe at NETCOM.COM>
Ron -
I once watched a Western Gull with a starfish in its mouth for over
an hour, on the San Mateo County coastline (central California). At first
it had two legs in and three out, but by the time I left, it had nearly
swallowed it.
But I don't think that finished the story. I vaguely recall a paper in
British Birds from many years ago, about a gull swallowing an invertebrate
and dropping over dead, as the critter ate its way out of the gull's
stomach. I believe it was a crab, but the memory fades. . . Does anyone
recall that paper?
Starfish have tough carapaces, and I wonder if a gull could even digest
a starfish. I think your question is provocative, and I wish I had the
answer. Who eats whom?
--
............... ..... ... ... . .. . . . . .
...... Bill Principe . . . . . . . . . . .
...... principe at netcom.com . . . . . . .
...... Pasadena, California . . . . . . . . .
.......... ....... ... . .. ... . . . . . .
==========================
From: Joe Morlan <jmorlan at SLIP.NET>
On Tue, 27 Dec 1994, Bill Principe wrote:
> But I don't think that finished the story. I vaguely recall a paper in
> British Birds from many years ago, about a gull swallowing an invertebrate
> and dropping over dead, as the critter ate its way out of the gull's
> stomach. I believe it was a crab, but the memory fades. . . Does anyone
> recall that paper?
I don't remember that one, but there was a paper in "British Birds" with
the provocative title "Herring Gull killed by Mole." Evidently the
Herring Gull swallowed the mole alive and the mole burrowed through the
gull to safety killing the gull in the process.
There have been several documented cases of Great Blue Herons being killed
by Pacific Lamprey. The herons swallow the lamprey alive and the eel then
gloms onto the inside of the herons esophagus, killing it. One of these
Great Blues was in the San Francisco Bay.
> Starfish have tough carapaces, and I wonder if a gull could even digest
> a starfish. I think your question is provocative, and I wish I had the
> answer. Who eats whom?
Frequently bird digestion is a long-winded process. I've watched
mergansers swallow fish which seemed much too large. The fish goes in
head first with the tail sticking out of the bill. Eventually the
gizzard grinds the skull of the fish and the entire fish is eventually
consumed. It's interesting that the birds never choke during this process.
I've also seen sea-stars, mostly the big pink ones, hanging out the
mouths of Glaucous-winged Gulls. Once I watched one for over an hour at
Half Moon Bay and there was no sign of the gull giving up or making any
progress. I also have a photo of a Glaucous-wing with a starfish hanging
out of its mouth.
Joe Morlan
Albany, CA
==============================
From: David Powell <vireo at MUNCH.GENE.COM>
I also have seen Gulls, either Glaucous-winged, Western, or hybrid
with starfish in their mouths. I see one or more gulls with starfish
essentially every time I go to Pillar Point Harbor in San Mateo Co.
along the Pacific in Northern California. The one I watched a couple
of days ago had at least 3 arms in its mouth. The gull just walked
around carrying this starfish for 10-15 minutes, and then flew to the
other side of the harbor.
I find it difficult to believe that a gull could actually digest a
starfish, but it certainly seems to be regular enough to see one with
a starfish. All of my sightings have been of the pink variety of
starfish as well.
--
David Powell
Half Moon Bay, CA
vireo at gene.com
=================================
>From GR340256%SJSUVM1.BITNET at arizvm1.ccit.arizona.eduWed Dec 28 15:10:23 1994
Date: Wed, 28 Dec 1994 09:27:38 -0800
From: Don Starks <GR340256%SJSUVM1.BITNET at arizvm1.ccit.arizona.edu>
Reply to: "National Birding Hotline Cooperative (Chat Line)"
<BIRDCHAT at listserv.Arizona.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list BIRDCHAT <BIRDCHAT at listserv.Arizona.EDU>
Subject: Re: Gulls and starfish
I've heard this story and I don't even know if it's true. Great Blue
Heron swallows mole whole and alive. Mole burrows its way out of its
predicament by the shortest means possible: directly out the crop. It
gets stuck in some bones or whatever and dies as does the heron. Both are
found for a good ornithological note.
Don Starks
==========================
From: Bill Principe <principe at NETCOM.COM>
The thing I find interesting about this thread is that everyone
who has reported seeing gulls eating starfish, including me, has reported
them from San Mateo County, in central California. The San Mateo County
coastline is only about 80 km. long, just south of San Francisco. In
each case, the bird was a Western or Glaucous-winged Gull. These two
forms are a superspecies at most, and possibly conspecific.
Has anyone else seen this behavior anywhere else in the world? With any
other species of gull?
--
............... ..... ... ... . .. . . . . .
...... Bill Principe . . . . . . . . . . .
...... principe at netcom.com . . . . . . .
...... Pasadena, California . . . . . . . . .
====================================
From: Angus Wilson <wilson at CSHL.ORG>
Maybe this behaviour is specific to the starfish species rather than the gulls?
Can anyone tell from the brief descriptions whether all the starfish were
of the same species? Certainly compared to the North Atlantic Coasts, large
juicy starfish seem more obvious and accessible in Northern California.
Here on Long Island NY, small crabs caught by plunge-diving on the rising
tide seem to be a major food resourse for Herring and Great Black-Back
Gulls. They are either swallowed whole and alive or if too big, pecked to
pieces on the beach before being swallowed.
Angus Wilson, Ph.D at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory,PO Box 100, Cold Spring
Harbor, NY 11724, USA. Phone (516) 367-8424; FAX (516) 367-8454.
============================
From: Phil Davis <PDAVIS at OAO.COM>
I saw a Western Gull eating a starfish this past fall (October 94)
on the jetty at Fisherman's Warf in Monterey, CA. Add another
county to the list.
Phil Davis
PDavis at OAO.com
Greenbelt, MD
=========================
From: Paul Moorehead <n9135066 at HENSON.CC.WWU.EDU>
I have seen gulls in the San Juan Islands in various states of starfish
consumption; birds with starfish arms hanging out, to seeing the bulge
of their throats as the prey is swallowed. The starfish have been
Pisaster ochraceus. The gulls seen were Thayer's (Larus thayeri) and
Glaucous-winged (Larus glaucescens ). It is quite a sight.
Paul Moorehead
n9135066 at henson.cc.wwu.edu
Guemes Island, Washington
========================
From: Adam Winer <awiner at US.ORACLE.COM>
> Has anyone else seen this behavior anywhere else in the world? With any
> other species of gull?
I've seen it in Washington state, Island County. No memory of which
species it was.
-- Adam Winer
awiner at us.oracle.com
Foster City, CA
=============================
From: Todd Newberry <taxa at BIOLOGY.UCSC.EDU>
I had replied off BIRDCHAT about seeing lots of this behavior -- gulls
eating starfish -- but can add a couple of angles generally, since it
seems to be a thread now.
1 -- People note the starfish are all "pink." I have seen purple ones
getting eaten. The purple ones are Pisaster ochraceous, which cling hard
to rocks and would be a real (impossible) job for a gull to pull off,
although one might get nabbed while they are eating a mussel if the gull
went for the loosened mussel-prey and got the starfish-predator as a
dividend, or the gull might go for cast-ups. The pink ones are probably
P. brevispinus, which often traverse mud and sand in search of clams and
sand-dollars and other loose-bottom dwellers. (How they find the clam is
another story!) This foraging habit would make P. brevispinus a lot easier
for a gull to grab.
2 -- A starfish would make a good meal, what with its substantial tissues
(gastric pouches, gonads). Since a starfish's skeleton is a complex of
calcareous ossicles held together by tiny muscles, a lot looser than a sea
urchin's and sometimes (huge, floppy Pycnopodia) very loose indeed, any
digestive enzyme that could loosen the muscles or any acid (HCl?) that
could dissolve the ossicles would open up the prey quickly. Unlike Joe
Morlan's great table-turners, starfish could not put up much of a fight,
since they lack teeth and eat by everting their stomach onto or into their
prey -- in this situation just making the mess they are in worse for
themselves by exposing all that much more tissue to the gull's gut.
Todd Newberry
taxa at cats.ucsc.edu
======================
>From lsdb at U.WASHINGTON.EDUWed Dec 28 15:10:23 1994
I have seen Glaucous-winged with starfish sticking out their mouths in
the Puget Sound as well.
David Buckley----------------------------------------------------------------
lsdb at u.washington.edu
West Seattle, USA
=============================
From: "David J. Lauten" <lauten at CALSHP.CALS.WISC.EDU>
Subject: Re: gulls eating....what!?!
i'm really enjoying the notes on the gulls eating starfish. i can't say
i've seen that, but it does bring back a memory of being at jones beach
state park on long island, ny, where we watched a herring gull struggle to
swallow a puffish. the fish was puffed, and the gull was doing all it can
to keep the fish between it's mandibles (is this the correct
terminology???). eventually the gull managed to swing the fish into the
swallowing position, and with a few gulps, done it slid into the throat. we
could see the fish was still puffed, but the gull seemed alright. i've
always been amazed that they can have something like that in their throats
and not sufficate.
happy new year
have fun
david j. lauten
madison,wi.
===========================
From: Wayne Klockner <klockner at CPCUG.ORG>
> Has anyone else seen this behavior anywhere else in the world? With any
>other species of gull?
The Herring and Great Black-backed Gulls of Muscongus Bay, Maine feed upon
starfish frequently. I spent a summer at the Audubon Camp on Hog Island
there and noted this feeding behavior.
***************************************************************** Wayne
Klockner
klockner at cpcug.org
*****************************************************************
==========================
From: PAAVOCET at AOL.COM
From: PAAVOCET (Sandy Sherman)
We on the East Coast don't see as many starfish as you Californians do, so
the thread turns a little.
I recall watching a Great Black-Backed Gull going after a Blowfish in the
surf at Cape May Point. There was no way the gull was going to swallow the
fish -- it had to be 5 inches wide. But it badgered the poor thing by poking
until it deflated the creature -- and then flew off without eating it.
And no, I have no intention of mixing threads by telling you how I felt
about watching the fish die. (<;
====================================
From: Randy Lauff <rlauff at JULIET.STFX.CA>
I too have seen this behaviour by herring gulls here in Nova Scotia.
I've never had the time to determine the success of either the starfish
or the gull.
Randy Lauff
rlauff at juliet.stfx.ca