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May 10, 2008 7:43 pm US/Central
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City Works To Manage Seagulls Along Lake
Some Gulls Will Be Marked With Non-Toxic Dye
They may look nice from afar, but up close seagulls can be a nuisance, not to mention the possibility that they may play a part in E coli found in Lake Michigan.
So, the city and the Chicago Park District are partnering to implement an integrated Ring-billed Gull Management Program, addressing the nuisances caused by gulls throughout Chicago.
The program incorporates managing the gulls by reducing access to food sources, keeping them off beaches and other public places with physical barriers and reducing the production of gulls at two colonies, along with a monitoring component to determine where the gulls originate, according to a release from the park district.
The park district's efforts will include reducing food sources by setting out covered trash and recycling containers, installing signs urging the public not to feed gulls and utilizing border collies as a Ring-billed gull harassment technique, the release said.
The regional population of Ring-billed Gulls has increased dramatically in recent decades, according to the release. Studies have suggested a link between fecal droppings from gulls and E coli in the lake, the release said. According to the park district, a Lake County Health Department study of five beaches found that more than half of the E coli bacteria in water samples collected were identified as avian in origin.
The park district is asking beach and park patrons to help them in this effort by keeping the beaches and parks clean and to avoid feeding any wildlife they encounter there.
The City's Department of the Environment has, for the second year in a row, requested Wildlife Services, a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to reduce the reproduction of ring-billed gulls by oiling eggs and to mark and observe gulls locally and regionally to see where they travel, the release said. Like last year, over several weeks, Wildlife Services biologists will coat gull eggs with biodegradable corn oil, which prevents hatching. The oil will not harm adult gulls, other wildlife or the environment.
A percentage of the gulls from two colonies in Chicago and colonies in East Chicago, Indiana will be marked with non-toxic dye of various colors and observed throughout the summer at beaches and other places of high concentration. The purpose of the marking and observing is to determine where gulls on Chicago's lakefront originated to aid in the development of long-term management strategies.
In 2007, oiling the eggs reduced Chicago's hatch-year gull numbers by 35,000 birds without resulting in abandonment or relocation of the nest colonies, the release said. Nearby landowners, such as Navy Pier, reported fewer gull-related conflicts and nuisances. Ring-billed gull populations in the region have been increasing drastically over the last few decades; the regional population is estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands.
As the name implies, adult Ring-billed gulls are distinguished by the black ring around their bill, as well as by their yellow legs and feet, according to the release. They have adapted well to the urban Chicago environment where parks, parking lots and the lakefront provide open environments the birds prefer, with few, if any, predators. Ring-billed gulls will scavenge food from garbage, as well as eat insects, fish, and even the eggs and young of other birds.
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