I had never seen Black-headed Gulls paddling on water before. This morning there were at least 30 Black-headed gulls and I noticed a one briefly paddling on shallow water, and checking in front of its feet. A young gull came along and when at the same spot it started paddling too. I managed a short clip of it.
After a while one of the young ones got a worm, unclear if due to the paddling. Walking around the pools on areas where the gulls don't go by the road it was apparent that there were a lot of dead (drowned?) worms. I think that's what the gulls are after in the flood. The Herring gulls were also energetically pulling grass and leaves and soil from the shallow puddles to expose food.
I've seen Black-headed Gulls doing the worm dance on dry grass, and have YouTube video of it here and here. The second clip shows the dance being very successful in bringing up worms.
ReplyDeleteSorry, got the two clips wrong way round. It's the first clip that shows success.
DeleteHi Ralph, that's a fantastic video, I will add a note to the blog. Do you think the behaviour on dry grass is rarer than on the other gulls?
DeleteThanks. Oddly, I'd rate this as only the second rarest among the four gull species commonly seen in Hyde Park. Herring Gulls do the worm dance all the time, and Common Gulls often. But from my observations, Lesser Black-Backs hardly dance at all, preferring to peck the ground instead.
Delete