The downtown lake Tjörnin is teeming with life these days: The migratory birds have returned for the summer, and are busy preparing their nests and the breeding season. Soon Tjörnin will be home to flocks of little of ducklings. Which is why the City Authorities have issued an urgent plea to people: Please do NOT feed the ducks for the next several weeks!
Keeping predatory seagulls at bay
The reason people should not feed the birds during the breeding season is that the bread attracts seagulls to the pond, and once there the seagulls then attack nests, stealing eggs as well as killing and eating ducklings. City ornithologists point out that one of the primary determinants of the success of the nesting season at Tjörnin is predatory pressures from the aggressive the seagulls, especially the lesser black-backed gull.
Read more: Seven fascinating facts about the downtown pond Tjörnin
The black-backed gulls come to Tjörnin to rest and bathe in its fresh water, and some of them have specialized in attacking ducklings.
The city urges people not to feed the birds with bread from mid-May until late summer or early fall. The ducks won't grow hungry as the pond is full of life, providing for a healthy diet, free of white bread, for all the ducklings and their parents!
The downtown lake Tjörnin is teeming with life these days: The migratory birds have returned for the summer, and are busy preparing their nests and the breeding season. Soon Tjörnin will be home to flocks of little of ducklings. Which is why the City Authorities have issued an urgent plea to people: Please do NOT feed the ducks for the next several weeks!
Keeping predatory seagulls at bay
The reason people should not feed the birds during the breeding season is that the bread attracts seagulls to the pond, and once there the seagulls then attack nests, stealing eggs as well as killing and eating ducklings. City ornithologists point out that one of the primary determinants of the success of the nesting season at Tjörnin is predatory pressures from the aggressive the seagulls, especially the lesser black-backed gull.
Read more: Seven fascinating facts about the downtown pond Tjörnin
The black-backed gulls come to Tjörnin to rest and bathe in its fresh water, and some of them have specialized in attacking ducklings.
The city urges people not to feed the birds with bread from mid-May until late summer or early fall. The ducks won't grow hungry as the pond is full of life, providing for a healthy diet, free of white bread, for all the ducklings and their parents!
