Kelps Cause Concern

My blog on Pacific Gulls coincided with Birds Tasmania's Annual Gull Count in South East Tasmania -- reported in today's Mercury newspaper. About 10,000 gulls were counted, of which about half were reported from South Hobart and Glenorchy tips. The major finding was that both Silver and Pacific Gulls are in decline, but the only other species, the Kelp Gull, has continued to increase. Its' numbers have increased by about 8 times since 1980. As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the Kelp Gull has taken over large parts of Orielton Lagoon as a breeding ground, and is breeding in small numbers in other important habitat. These habitats have been set aside for waders, both migratory and our own breeding birds. The invasive Kelp Gull is denying these areas to the very birds these areas were set aside for. The numbers of Kelp Gulls breeding and competing for nesting sites with Pacific Gulls on offshore islands is also likely to be the major cause of the decline in Pacific Gull numbers. There have been programmes of culling Silver Gull eggs, mainly on the causeways where they represent a driving hazard. I think it's past time to put in place a plan to reduce or eliminate Kelp Gulls from vunerable habitat. Too often there is a lack of pro active planning, preferring, apparently, to wait until an issue requires the expenditure of many dollars and employs the 'experts' who could have prevented it happening in the first place. It's past time to address this issue.
[Photos show, an adult Kelp Gull, and Silver Gulls (some of a flock of around 1000 birds at Sorell this morning)].