{"id":679752,"date":"2026-06-02T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/679752\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T12:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:00:12","slug":"sea-gulls-are-coming-for-your-lunch-at-the-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/679752\/","title":{"rendered":"Sea gulls are coming for your lunch at the beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ha-ha-ha.<\/p>\n

With the warm weather finally here, we have arrived at our annual sea gulls vs. sapiens season. And I\u2019d like to use it as an opportunity to appreciate, rather than just tolerate, this majestic menace. To do so, let\u2019s go to Gloucester for our setting.<\/p>\n

\"AA sea gull attempted to empty some unattended baggage.David L. Ryan\/Globe Staff\"AA sea gull flew off with its reward in its beak.David L. Ryan\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

We could go anywhere along the New England coast to see these terrors in action, but by all accounts, Gloucester has it worse than most, and may finally be doing something about it (which probably won\u2019t work, if only because nothing can stop the unstoppable). And it was here in America\u2019s Oldest Seaport, while on a sea gull assignment one day in 2018, that appreciation was forced upon me on the roof of Cape Pond Ice.<\/p>\n

I was in the city to report on a new chapter in the city\u2019s old sea gull problem<\/a>, one that seemed to be making human-bird interactions worse. Gloucester\u2019s famed offshore fishing fleet \u2014 the birds\u2019 favorite source of scraps \u2014 had shrunk. Meanwhile, its predator populations \u2014 crows, owls, coyotes, skunks \u2014 were thriving. As a result, huge numbers of sea gulls had retreated downtown to nest in relative safety on flat roofs, and feast on the endless smorgasbord of curb-side trash. The fact that the city required all trash be placed in purple bags simply made them easier to spot from the sky. <\/p>\n

We\u2019ll get to those purple bags in a moment, for there is news.<\/p>\n

But first, back to the roof of Cape Pond Ice, which is right on Gloucester Harbor and supplies the city\u2019s fishing fleet with the mountains of ice they need to cool their catch. When a photographer and I walked in and inquired if there were any sea gulls nesting on the ice house roof, the owner, Scott Memhard, gave me the side-eye and told us we were welcome to go on up and look.<\/p>\n

What happened next is kind of a blur, but we got on the roof, I turned a corner, and immediately came upon a sea gull sitting on a nest, who greeted my unannounced arrival with violence. As the bird rose to attack, I turned on my heels and did some sort of terrified, awkward walk-run. This part is very clear, for the photographer, Aram Boghosian, kindly snapped a photo of me fleeing. And that\u2019s when the trouble started, at home.<\/p>\n

\"GlobeGlobe reporter Billy Baker ran for his life from a killer sea gull in Gloucester in 2018.Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe<\/p>\n

After the photographer sent me that photo, and my wife and children got their eyes on it, I became the family joke \u2014 the dad who ran for his life from a sea gull. My wife loved the photo so much she had it turned into a jigsaw puzzle.<\/p>\n

Naturally, I tried to defend myself, which meant arguing what is hidden-in-plain-sight \u2014 sea gulls are awesome, in every sense of the word. (And yes, I\u2019m aware that they\u2019re technically called \u201cgulls,\u201d but everyone but birders <\/a>calls them sea gulls so please don\u2019t email me.)<\/p>\n

Now back to those awesome, underappreciated sea gulls, and the news in Gloucester<\/a>. The city is finally getting rid of the purple trash bags. Starting this fall, all residents will be given large, lidded trash cans, that will be picked up by automated trucks with those swingy arms.<\/p>\n

Back in 2018, a lot of people shouting \u201csomeone has to do something about these sea gulls\u201d were heaping blame on the purple trash bags, which the birds tear open like tortillas. But if my sea gull scholarship has taught me anything these last seven years, it is that nothing will stop the mighty sea gull. The city agrees, and an official said the elimination of purple bags is simply to modernize the waste collection; no one is under the illusion it will improve the sea gull situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re just angry white feathers,\u201d Mike Hale, the city\u2019s director of public works, told me. \u201cYou can\u2019t do anything about them.\u201d <\/p>\n

And on a recent sunny day at Good Harbor Beach, the locals agreed. \u201cThere\u2019s no purple trash bags here, it\u2019s a carry-in carry-out beach, and they\u2019re still absolutely brutal,\u201d a Gloucester elementary school teacher named Christine Kecyk told me as her three small sons built a sandcastle and offered enthusiastic condemnation. \u201cSomeone needs to get rid of them,\u201d one shouted. Another offered practical advice, which was to build a makeshift tent out of beach chairs to hide under when you want to eat.<\/p>\n

\"AA beachgoer shooed away sea gulls looking for food.David L. Ryan\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Elsewhere on the beach, there were tales of sandwiches snatched midbite, of wallets being stolen for the sheer joy of mayhem, of out-of-towners who don\u2019t know any better and leave their chips out when they go for a swim. And on cue, I watched as a flock landed at some unattended baggage and marched around it like a game of musical chairs, ready to fight each other for first bite.<\/p>\n

Just then, a young woman ran out from under a massive tent and tried to shoo them away from the stranger\u2019s bags, which seemed to scare them off precisely not at all. At most, they took a few quick steps away from her, but more the pace you do when someone holds a door for you, rather than the life-or-death walk-run captured in a certain photo. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne bit my brother last summer while it was trying to get his food,\u201d said one of the women under the tent, Halia Taylor, a 19-year-old from Gloucester who is a student at UMass Amherst and knows better than to just leave her belongings or her body vulnerable to the sky. \u201cGetting rid of the trash bags isn\u2019t going to do anything. There\u2019s nothing that will stop them.\u201d<\/p>\n

We can only marvel. And stay off the roof of Cape Pond Ice.<\/p>\n

Billy Baker can be reached at billy.baker@globe.com<\/a>. Follow him on Instagram @billy_baker<\/a>.<\/p>\n