Why do seagulls hang around parking lots?

Question

Whenever I go to a mall or shopping center with a large parking lot, I always see seagulls. I live in Orlando, which isn't too far from the ocean. But why would SEAgulls prefer a parking lot to an ocean? Overpopulation? More food sources in parking lots?

Answer 1

Vacationing gulls visit parking lots
Stephen Lyn Bales - Thu, Mar, 3, 2005

“Over the last few years, I have noticed seagulls hanging out in several parking lots around town during the winter,” recently observed Angela Farmer. “Are these really gulls? Where do they come from? Why do they come to this area?”

Yes indeed, they are really gulls. Some of the same species that you see in the summer on the Atlantic Beaches.

Last Sunday I was standing in the parking lot in front of Antiquities next to Kroger and saw several flying overhead. The gulls migrate here to spend the winter.

It’s really the work of TVA. When they changed our area from a river valley to a series of lakes it became an ideal place for gulls and other waterfowl like geese, ducks and cranes to spend the winter. Each year we attract more and more because the young ones follow the old ones.

Word has spread that the Tennessee Valley is a great vacation spot. (It’s only fair since we spend our summer vacations at their beaches; sort of quid pro quo).

There are three species of gull that show up here: ring-billed, herring and Bonaparte’s, but we have a lot more ring-billed gulls than the other two.

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count turned up 123 in Knox County in 1959 and that number has steadily grown ever since. This past January, 2,321 ring-billed gulls were counted in one day in west Knox County alone and there are thousands more up and down the valley from the Tri-Cities to Chattanooga.

Gulls are scavengers. Like raccoons, ring-bills are omnivores that search for a wide range of edibles. Earthworms, insects, fish, rodents, grain and even the garbage we humans throw away are all part of their diet.

They hang around parking lots looking for bits of food: French fries, apple cores, etc. that we toss out of our cars. Hundreds also hang out at the local landfill going through our trash.

They’ll all fly back home in the spring and most of them probably come south from the Great Lakes and New England, where it’s too cold to find enough food to survive.

Ring-billed gulls also enjoy each other’s company. Not only do they winter together but they’ll soon migrate back north to reclaim summer nesting territories. One island in Lake Ontario routinely has a breeding colony of around 85,000 pairs.

Since the average clutch size is three that means the island’s population has the potential to swell to over 340,000 gulls by the end of summer; and they’ll all need a place farther south to spend the winter.

As Bart Simpson would say: “Ay Caramba! We’ll need more parking lots.”

Thanks Angela.

Answer 2

garbage people leave behind is a major food source, and easy to obtain..not much work involved in picking up food scraps off the ground, no energy wasted.

Answer 3

From garbage people leave behind in the parking lot.

Answer 4

I live in metro Denver and they do the same thing here, looking for fast food people toss out of their cars

Answer 5

i dont think they are seagulls, but they are looking for food/trash

Answer 6

trash