r/interesting • u/Separate_Finance_183 • 12h ago
MISC. Seagull tries to steal a burger from a woman in Sydney
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u/PervlovianResponse 12h ago
If I see that there is a seagull protection cage around food on the table ... Yeah, I'm not going to risk eating there. I'll just have some water and get a bigger meal later
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u/mechapoitier 11h ago
Yeah I grew up on both US coasts and I’ve eaten in a lot of seaside towns. If they’re putting cages over your food, that means the birds have gotten f’ing brazen.
There are other passive ways to get rid of the birds and this is clearly not working.
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u/Numerous-Net-4983 11h ago
That restaurant needs a resident eagle
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u/RevolutionaryLie5743 11h ago
Peregrine Falcons would be far more effective and they already live high up in many tall buildings as it emulates their natural preference for sheer cliff faces. I’m a second gen falconer and would recommend they have a falconer come around with a peregrine and see how the seagulls react. It’s how many airports avoid bird strikes.
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u/Numerous-Net-4983 11h ago
You should get you and your bird down to Sydney harbour
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u/RevolutionaryLie5743 11h ago
Hey if they fly us out there, I’m currently living in a suburb of LA, I’d be happy to. If they pay for our lodging and food, I’d happily walk around with my falcon. He’s real well tempered and trained but once let loose, he’s an absolute killer.
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u/Numerous-Net-4983 11h ago
Love your work LA Falcon Guy
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u/Not-An-FBI 8h ago
I don't. Now there are all these obnoxious influencers filming themselves eating hamburgers on the beach.
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u/Eastern-Peach-3428 10h ago
My life doesn't have room for the time commitment involved but I have always been fascinated with Raptors.
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u/StubbiestZebra 9h ago
Search around your area, before my nature center lost its funding we had volunteers work with our birds. Took a bit of commitment, but no where near what it takes to become a falconer and you get to help nonreleasable animals
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u/DynastyZealot 9h ago
Does it pay well enough to be a career, or is this more of a hobby? I always wanted to raise one after reading My Side of the Mountain as a kid. I've even collected a fair amount of books about falconry, but I've never known anyone who's into it.
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u/conflictedideology 4h ago
Check your area and see if there are any groups. I went to a meet-up once and it had tons of people at varying levels there, some with their birds.
I ended up not pursuing it because of the time commitments required, but it was a neat afternoon!
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u/Lildizzle 11h ago
Surely nothing bad has happened by taking a non-native animal to Aus in an attempt to cull other animals...
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u/iBluntly 10h ago
It’s a bit different when it’s one non-native animal that’s paired with its trainer.
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u/biophys00 10h ago
Peregrine falcons are one of the most wide spread raptors in the world and are a native species to Australia (and every other continent besides Antarctica)
Edit: wording
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u/T_Write 10h ago
Granville Island in vancouver has a falconer during summers to keep seagulls under control. Pretty fun. Also doubles as a tourist attraction.
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u/Neomonk21 9h ago
Ocean City, New Jersey does the same thing on their boardwalk. It is a lot of fun to watch the falconer work with their bird. It also keeps the seagulls in check which is a bonus.
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u/EpilepticMushrooms 10h ago
If less high rise skyscrapers had bird death windows, there would be SO much more aerial predators cleaning up the streets.
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u/betweenthelines_11 11h ago
There are dogs that are employed to chase away the seagulls at that bar
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u/Emotional-Fortune486 11h ago
do they make at least minimum wage?
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u/betweenthelines_11 11h ago
I was going to make a “the benefits are ruff” type joke, but the handlers at least are very well compensated - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-04/dogs-hired-for-sydney-opera-house-seagull-patrols/100674522
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u/ArthurBingKing 11h ago
Jersey shore seagulls are vicious
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u/Gingergirl1228 11h ago
I think the ones near the river in Philly have been eating the used needles, theyre worse than the tweakers...
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u/Capn_Chryssalid 11h ago
You mean the Penn Landing gulls or the 30th St Station gulls?
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u/IAmBoring_AMA 8h ago
I'm from New Jersey. A seagull once stole pizza directly out of my hands on the boardwalk.
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u/strong_heart27 9h ago
I was on Misquamicut beach once and a seagull literally attacked me for my sandwich I was holding and successfully stole it. I also witnessed them another time savagely rip open a large bag of chips and go at it. Those birds are ruthless
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u/DangerousTurmeric 9h ago
I just grab them by their little feet (and then vigorously clean my hands) and then they never come near me again.
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u/AnonymousEngineer_ 11h ago
"There" is the Opera Bar at Circular Quay, right next to the Opera House. It's probably one of the most touristy places in the entire city and it is routinely packed.
They're even more aggressive at the fish market.
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u/FierceMilkshake 10h ago
I've had some of my pie crust stolen from these aggressive bastards 😂 you can try to shoo them away but they come right back.
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u/Atromach 11h ago
Hell no, other way round - if you're eating food anywhere in the Sydney harbour area, you're going to be defending against invasive seagulls. Any sort of fortification you can employ against the bastards is hugely welcome
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u/Automatic-Lock8728 5h ago
I was at that exact spot two years ago and no cages. They're taking over. In another two years we'll be in the cages.
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u/moisturized69tatas 11h ago
Seagull problem is so big they need to cage the food? Youd think they would have some kind of deterrent, maybe a big eagle or something to keep the other birds away.
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u/Ok_Biscotti_514 11h ago
I remember a few months ago, they had farm dogs trained to chase seagulls, the thing its peoples fault seagulls are like this because they keep feeding them
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u/Skulldo 9h ago
Yep out in town at a nice restaurant with an outside bit for a meal during the summer a couple years ago (where everybody knows you don't tempt the seagulls) but a couple of Italian tourists just start throwing food for them. Within a minute there were piles of them swooping down.
One city over you will be berated by wardens for having food drop on the ground and get fined for feeding the seagulls/pigeons.
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u/Kinnakeet 6h ago
In honolulu hawaii the servers have side holsters with water guns to shoo away pigeons and seagulls at the open air spots
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u/GoopySpaffy 8h ago
Tbf in Italy seagulls are always fed and they're polite. I went last year and they just swoop down and chill in spots and people will give them food, they know if they just sit nearby people will gladly feed them so they don't have to steal.
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u/john_fartston 9h ago
Anytime I eat fast food in my car, there's probably about 5-10 Seagulls surrounding me. Some of them will even stand on my hood and won't get off until I actually start accelerating
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u/Training-Belt-7318 11h ago
In 20 years it will be flocks of angry eagles stealing people's burgers and babies.
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u/endlessflood 11h ago
This is Opera Bar in Sydney, and as you can probably expect from where it’s located, it’s unfortunately full of clueless tourists. Seagulls have learned that too, and so it is their favourite place in the world.
There are signs everywhere there warning about the seagulls, and the staff warn you too, and they give you the big covers for the food. But the tourists still don’t get it.
It’s a great place to buy overpriced beers and enjoy an amazing view, but if you decide to order food then you’re rolling the dice 😁
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u/Foreign-Cat-2898 11h ago
What was she supposed to do here? Stare at the burger under the cover? She was using two hands and kept the thing covered the whole time.
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u/Loud_Fisherman_5878 11h ago
You’re supposed to dip your head under the basket and eat from there. That’s why it’s seethrough, so you can still hold conversations and admire the harbour bridge.
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u/WoofLife- 10h ago
Or turn the basket over your hand/head and use it as a shield.
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u/endlessflood 11h ago
Just be alert to them. They don’t materialise out of thin air, they hang around. If you’re watching them they won’t do anything. If you’re not paying attention they’ll try it on.
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u/pikuray 10h ago
You say that as a seagull materialized 5milliseconds after lifting the cover
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u/idixxon 8h ago
Gotta look around every now and then and mean mug them out. If you keep your head down they can tell you won't expect them. Lived in a coastal village all my life and they can sense the tourist in people aha.
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u/endlessflood 10h ago
Old mate was sitting there waiting and licking his lips the whole time 🤣
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11h ago edited 9h ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/endlessflood 11h ago
Just be alert to them. They don’t materialise out of thin air, they hang around. If you’re watching them they won’t do anything. If you’re not paying attention they’ll try it on.
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u/Hyru_Nayru 10h ago
You mean they shouldn’t buy food at that place? Because I don’t see how else she’s supposed to eat it, despite the staff’s warning and the cover.
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u/i_volunteered_tho 11h ago
What's she supposed to do here? Work 10 years as an entrepreneur, raise capital for her own business, raise enough for charity and donate 10's of millions to this place in Sydney to have the dining area covered from the elements just to protect from seagulls?
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u/maybeAturtle 10h ago
most american solution I've ever heard (I'm American)
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u/Yeah-Its-Me-777 10h ago
No, the most american solution for that would be guns. Lots of guns. And freedom.
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u/Clear_Command_8925 10h ago
The restaurant better have some oil if you're wanting the artillery brought in
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u/moisturized69tatas 10h ago
Its a simple solution that airports use all the time in my area of canada to keep birds away.
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u/abracablab 12h ago
I grew up in a seagull-infested area and I tell you they can spot a non-local a mile away. They know who to go for.
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u/Doortofreeside 11h ago
I was with my wife at a beach resort in Miami and they left us alone until I went to use the bathroom and then apparently a group of them just swarmed on my wife.
I hadn't even been paying that much attention as we were nibbling while reading. The irony is that the book was The Genius of Birds
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u/kellstromc 12h ago
lol at using the word 'infested'
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u/RicketCrickets 11h ago
I mean it's accurate. I get why the act to protect migratory birds exists, but seagulls are just asses.
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u/Content_Geologist420 11h ago
Tbf alot of birds are dicks. I'm sure if Blue Jays or Mockingbirds grew to be the size of seagulls they would be terrorizing all people but due to size can only terrorize house cats and squirrels
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u/swaggerin_buffoonery 11h ago
I wouldn’t eat that thing. Who knows what kind of parasite, worm or other contagious disease the bird touching it would give you.
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u/-DenisM- 11h ago
Just read up on it. It gets worse 💀 they almost always have shit or rotten flesh on their beak/feet
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u/EvilSporkOfDeath 7h ago
Roughly half of humans have feces particles on their hands at any given moment.
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u/Keiteaea 11h ago
One time eating outside, the table next to us had a pigeon suddenly dove next to the people. It first flapped around their head were surprised and stood up with their hands up, and I guess they did not see that after that the bird just sat down fully in the woman's plate.
When the bird left and they settled back down, the woman took her fork and I was like noooooo don't eat that !!!
The restaurant owner was nice though, when we explained what happened she made her a new plate.
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u/majortomcraft 11h ago
pigeon suddenly dove?
i got news for you buddy. pigeon was dove all along.
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u/IncognitoErgoCvm 7h ago
Every day I feel my love of English and my pity for English learners in equal measure.
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u/SilviuCT 11h ago
Do seagulls carry bird flu?
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u/swaggerin_buffoonery 11h ago
I googled it and guess what “Yes,
seagulls frequently carry bird flu (avian influenza). In fact, gulls, alongside wild ducks and geese, are considered natural reservoirs for the virus.”21
u/maybearandoanon 11h ago
This is an old video. Bird flu only recently ended up in Sydney.
But yeah, once a gull's touched it I won't touch it.
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u/Either_Plankton_9396 10h ago
I bought some potato scollaps from a fish and chips shop in the Corso at Manly Beach 20 years ago and they were hot as lava when I got them. Sat down on the steps at the beach and took one out of the pack and it was burning my fingers so I ripped off some paper, wrapped it round the bottom of the scollap and went to take a bite and a seagull swooped down and took the whole scollap and flew toward the beach. 2 seconds later it drops the scollap on the beach mid flight cause it had 3rd degree burns to the mouth probably, then the funniest thing was watching the squabble of all the seagulls attacking the scollap on the beach and getting 3rd degree burns squauking away 😆
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u/Klutzy-Meringue-8995 10h ago
"Scallop" is the word you want
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u/Objective-Tea-3219 8h ago
"scollop" is a regional word, it's more common in British english. My dad calls them scollops too (but only when they're cooked. when they're alive, they're scallops).
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u/FlatWhiteShark 6h ago
These are potato scallops, i.e. deep-fried potato slices.
"The term "scalloped" traces back to the Old English word "collop", meaning a thin slice of meat. This is historically related to the French word escalope (meaning a thin slice of meat or potato)."
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u/WilliamJamesMyers 12h ago
not cute or funny. you come between my food and my mouth and we just added an order of wings to my lunch
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u/LookMaNoPride 12h ago edited 11h ago
Mmmm... free salmonella
Edit: I wish I hadn't fact checked myself... Apparently, you can also get listeria, E. coli, fungal spores, chlamydia, and/or anti-biotic resistant superbugs from seagulls, as well, due to their scavenging habits. "I swear, babe! It was a seagull that gave me chlamydia!"
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u/Traditional_General2 11h ago
Fuck. I wish I used that one instead of the nightclub toilet seat excuse.
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u/garyisonion 11h ago
there was a story about a couple, a koala, and chlamydias here couple of years ago
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u/MarvinMonroeZapThing 11h ago
And as a result the Koala Chlamydia Ward at the Australia Zoo Wildlife Hospital in Queensland was named after John Oliver.
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u/thedaNkavenger 10h ago
Seagulls are actually a protected species thanks to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. In the US this would involve fines up to 15k and up to 6 months in prison but could go even higher if this was not a random one-time event. In Australia though you would not be under the same ruleset so maybe you would be able to do so there.
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u/Lint_baby_uvulla 11h ago
A kookaburra stole my meat pie.
The whole bloody thing was 5 cm from my nose and [whoosh] it was gone. Cheeky little bugger.
Welcome to Australia.
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u/Zachariot88 9h ago
I'm surprised you're the only one in this thread mentioning kookaburras; they're even more adept at stealing than the seagulls are.
Plus if you're a tourist it's like "oh wow neat I haven't seen this guy before" and then get surprised, instead of already having an existing "fuck these seagulls" attitude.
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u/fa136 12h ago
La mouette à toucher le burger avec ses pattes, jamais je mange ce truc
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u/Fun_Environment3792 11h ago
In some beach vacation places hire falconers to bring their birds to keep pests away.
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u/guacamole579 11h ago
Yup! This is the case on the Jersey Shore. Those seagulls are assholes and the tourists who feed them are bigger assholes. But falcons keep them in check
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u/Fun_Environment3792 11h ago
Thats where I learned it from. Apparently the final straw was when a child was attacked by seagulls for his fries or something.
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u/hedgecutter 12h ago
Just needs a bigger one that covers the entire table and herself
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u/No-Ambition-4164 12h ago
looks like it managed to put both feet onto the burger, hope she didnt end up eating it.
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u/LastOfLateBrakers 12h ago edited 11h ago
Waiting for people rushing to say "if it were me, there'd be a burger in my mouth and a dead seagull near my foot".
EDIT:
PEOPLE, seagulls are idiots. If you kill a seagull, the others won't look at it as a warning, they'll look at it as a meal.. right next to your burger. It's a stupid idea.
Now, if the dead seagull were a few 10's of meters away, you'd likely be okay for a minute.
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u/SirJohnSmythe 12h ago
Mark Wahlberg is gonna do an interview decades later saying how the seagull wouldn't have hit the burger if he were on that plane.
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u/AnimeB00BA 12h ago
It’s really that bad where you gotta cage your own food?
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u/QuasarTheGuestStar 10h ago
The birds across Sydney are legitimate menaces. Forget poisonous animals, these are the animals you’ve got to keep an eye on.
In most areas, birds will see you eating and flock to you hoping you’ll throw them a scrap. At Circular Quay (where this video was taken), the birds don’t give even that courtesy. The moment they see a human meal it’s fair game to steal it.
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u/No-Advice-6040 5h ago
Worse is that people DO give them scraps, which justifies the gulls presence there. Don't feed the fucking winged terrorists!
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u/Mysterious_Self_3606 7h ago
They do this in Atlantic City too. They swarm and are really aggressive to get food, i've even seen a couple dive right into the trash can to dig something out right after someone throws something away.
This is why people will yell at you here if you decide to feed the seagulls (especially the fucking bennies), it just creates a problem.
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u/kombiwombi 10h ago
This few hundred metres around the Opera House is particularly bad. Tourists won't stop feeding the seagulls, and so they come looking for food here, and if none is available they'll try it on.
You can walk to the other side of the Quay and it is both shadier and the seagulls are well behaved. Just up the stairs is George St and some shops which don't charge outrageously.
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u/kernel-troutman 11h ago
The seagull works for the burger shop. Burger shops sells the burger, seagull steals it an brings it back to the shop and they resell it over and over again.
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u/spleen79 11h ago
When I visited Sydney, I saw many gulls walk in nonchalant into mcDs or grocery stores and steal food. Seems like people are just used to it there.
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u/Cantliveanywhere 11h ago
This is why they say don’t feed the birds. But old people do anyway
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u/PackPractical3535 11h ago
Lost a fight once with a seagull, stole my nutella donut, the donut exploded there was nutella in every single corner and crease. The bird was relentless it was terrible experience.
But i found out since that you have to look every single bird in the eyes once and greet them. If they see you are watching them they suddenly become hesitant.
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u/Suitable_Earth6400 12h ago
The international constant: seagulls are bastids wherever you go
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u/Kaleidoscope_97 11h ago
It’s all fun and games for the seagull until it tries to steal the wrong man’s chips.
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u/superbusyrn 11h ago
Harbour restaurant but you have to eat in a refurbished shark cage to protect you from seagulls
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u/EchoLocation8 11h ago
I genuinely don't understand why people enjoy eating outside, every time my friends force me to do it, there's bugs and shit non stop trying to land on me or my food at all times.
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u/RevolutionPlenty20 10h ago
This is such a reddit tier comment lmao
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u/IgnatiusRileyFreeman 10h ago
You're so right, next they'll complain about sunshine
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u/elnander 10h ago
Every Reddit thread there's this comment: "I don't understand how anyone could like [thing that people like for understandable reasons]."
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u/scorchedarcher 10h ago
Normally I'm down for eating outside, if they gave me a cloche to protect my food I would be eating inside
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u/rascal3199 9h ago
there's bugs and shit non stop trying to land on me or my food at all times.
Where do you live? A waste management facility?
Eating outside on a cool sunny day is great bro...
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u/Oleleplop 10h ago
its hardly that bad, you make it sound like everywhere you eat outside, there is some crazy animal or something ttrying to take your food lol
here its more of a funny moment
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u/Appropriate-Carob123 9h ago
You seriously avoid eating outside everywhere you go because of the bugs "and shit"...? wtf lmao
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u/hysys_whisperer 10h ago
I live in a place with pleasant summer temps, calm winds, and dry so there's no bugs. I eat outside all summer here.
When I lived in Oklahoma, which is the opposite of those things, eating outside was miserable.
(Seattle by the way, don't come here. It's miserable and rains literally every day and instead of dingo's eating your baby it's the spiders. Did I mention the ANTIFA that burns down the whole city twice a week? I myself have perished in a fire 3 times just this year! /s)
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u/ArmedWithSpoons 10h ago
Summer in Oklahoma is like getting blasted in the face with a hair dryer while standing inside a sauna, meanwhile there's a bucket of swamp water with some shit in it nearby to add to the steamy ambiance/scent when it gets extra wet and steamy out after it rains.
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u/aintyourlover 10h ago
There's joy in eating with a view. That's why we have patios. That's why we have picnic barbecues, benches.
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u/stockflethoverTDS 10h ago
From a hot country so eating lunch outside in the sun is nuts, its so pleasant to sit in a cool spot outside and eat.
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u/Jugaimo 10h ago
Pleasant day with fresh air. And it feels good to be around people while slowing down with a meal.
Brush off the bug and smell the roses.
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u/TinFoilFashion 10h ago
Fresh air is nice. It depends on where you are but usually it’s just a single insignificant bug like an ant or something in New England.
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u/WalkAffectionate2683 10h ago
Hahaha wtf
Eating outside is so nice, we live in CPH, eating by the sun, sounds of waves, man you are missing out.
And if you don't like it, sure it's fine, but saying you "don't understand" is a bit weird.
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u/NacresR 10h ago edited 10h ago
Sometimes I’ll read a comment like yours and get confused as to how some peoples bloodlines made it this far.
Edit: don’t be too mean or else Reddit will delete your comment and I can’t read the insults. Tone it down thanks.
Edit: if this comment upsets you I think it’s time for some internalizing and quiet time.
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u/Firm-Explanation-220 10h ago
You realize that the natural state of our species is outdoors and we had to invent the concept of indoors.
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u/rokman 9h ago
Do you realize the natural state of our species is to communicate was with noises and gestures, wtf are you doing mastering the quantum realms of electrons to send through silicon, over radio waves and copper. Using an invented ‘English’ typed langue, not even hand written, in order to claim that the old ways were better
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u/Educational-Wing2042 8h ago
We still communicate with noises and gestures. That’s what language is.
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u/evil-winnebago 8h ago
We didn't invent the concept of indoors. That's just a natural instinct to get underneath something when the sky gets mad.
We invented buildings. Not the concept of being away from outside
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u/Frank_and_Beanzz 10h ago
Right but as soon as we created the means to eat indoors it became the best case option lol. Like why would you go back to shitting in a hole when we have toilets lol
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u/iamredsmurf 10h ago
Reconnect with the world. Take your shoes off. Go dig a hole and shit in it. Namaste.
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u/LysonsCornerP226 10h ago
Go dig your own hole
And shit in it, if you must
Namaste, my friend
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u/Anhedonia_Achiever 10h ago
What is the point of this comment lol
You realize the natural of state of our species is naked and nude? We had to invent the concept of clothes.
No shit man.
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u/Vasheerii 10h ago
Dear fucking god the existence of ants alone make this argument invalid.
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u/Battieosheel 9h ago
you realize that because of your comment, i now expect you to eat, sleep, and shit outdoors or else you’re not experiencing life in its natural state
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