Gulls: Not Guilty!

Since FLAP began publicizing the tower kill issue, we've been plagued by media reports that insist on fingering gulls as the bad guys. As if this isn't bad enough, in January the Toronto Star published an article suggesting that FLAP thought gulls were to blame for the deaths of multitudes of songbirds: "Migrating flocks driven into glass towers, group says".

It's time to set the record straight: FLAP was established to address the issue of migratory birds hitting tall lit structures. Lights are the problem, not the predators who have learned to take advantage of the situation.

Of all the potential predators gulls are certainly the most visible (rats, feral cats and raccoons tend to come out at night). They are probably also the most ingenious (there's anecdotal evidence to show that gulls have learned that migratory songbirds can be panicked into striking the glass). Nevertheless, gulls do not deserve our condemnation. They're merely out to find lunch. We can stop them from nabbing a quick meal by simply turning out the lights.