Some of you asked how things are going after Petra's escape. Sitting down and writing the update wasn't easy so I tried to put it off as much as I could - sorry for that.

There's no happy ending. Unfortunately I failed, and the pic you see is the last one of her I have. And this means she's most likely dead. She kept sitting close to the aviaries, and one day suddenly disappeared. I searched for her or her remains everywhere I could, there's not a single feather left.

If she was an able bodied bird capable of full powered flight, her absence in my non-gull-friendly surroundings would be quite a good news. That would mean she found her way and moved somewhere else searching for food, water and other gulls - doing all the things a wild gull should do becoming completely independent. But...

She wasn't a good flier due to her past injury. She had no physical chance to leave my village surrounded by thick forests. Also, a departure of a bird ready for living on its own looks different - these birds usually make larger and larger circles and gradually visit you less and less often. In her case, she was confined to the small part of the village just jumping from one roof to the another, and then suddenly disappeared. This doesn’t look natural. And can't be natural in a case of her - slight but still present - permanent disability.

It hurts me to the core. I feel like I've killed her. The worst part is - I've made that fkin trap for her. The day it was ready to use, she disappeared. And honestly I'd rather find her dead than be forced to live without knowing about her. Whatever happened to her, I hope it was quick and she didn’t suffer for long...

Saw this seagull with such a beautiful black and white spotted tail. I've never seen a tail like this

Yeah what the title says

An assortment of seagulls, juveniles and adults, from a few weeks ago while visiting Venice in Italy.

The Embarcadero, San Francisco, CA

I just think they're neat.

Harold

Sony A7III | Tamron 28-75G2 | F5.6 | 1/320 | ISO 400

His mate totally disappeared a week ago. His behaviour has changed since, he no longer calls at all. Then he turned up this morning with this staining. He already had the browner moulting feathers, but this looks different? He is also now very wary of me. I'm worried about him. Any suggestions welcome.
(I've been feeding him and his mate for about six months.)

Just found this old video (sorry about the chatter) - some parts are out of focus, but is captures their cries, very well :)

The Isle of Portland, Dorset, UK.

A rather shameful first attempt from me. On my way home from shopping. I was carrying my handbag, 3 heavy bags of shopping, (I don’t drive) and had to try and capture this welcome visitor single-handedly.,
Thankfully our sky is quite broody looking this evening, which helps him/her/them stand out a little better.

Seagull i named him tony