What Do Seagulls Eat? (Complete Guide)

Gulls, or gulls as they are more commonly known, are a very successful family of birds that includes about 54 species across most of the world. Seagulls are skilled scavengers, and they often have the audacity to prove their mettle by stealing food from right under our noses!

As natural scavengers, gulls are flexible in their diet and can pick their beaks from whatever food is available, so what do gulls eat?

Seagulls are extremely non-choosy omnivores, known for eating whatever they want. Their flexible feeding style allows them to consume large quantities of fish, insects, small animals, carrion, and human leftovers. While they are known for stealing human food, seagulls are actually very adaptable hunters in the wild.

A gull’s diet includes everything from human leftovers and carrion to fish, crustaceans, insects, invertebrates and many other small animals, as well as a variety of plant foods. They are not fussy at all and are good at hunting and scavenging.

Seagulls have some brilliant tricks – read on to discover more about the feeding habits of this highly adaptable bird.

Seagull eats a piece of muscle on the beach

What do seagulls eat in the sea?

Gulls eat fish as well as crustaceans, gastropods, molluscs, plankton and krill. They are especially fond of shellfish such as small shrimp. Seagulls are good at hunting food from the surface and on land, but don’t usually dive underwater. They are not picky about what they eat in the ocean and will eat sea creatures both live and carrion.

Seagulls eat fish in the sea

What do seagulls eat in winter?

Gulls are opportunistic scavengers year-round, but because certain species tend to migrate inland to warmer conditions during the winter, they tend to consume more terrestrial food. This is a time when seagulls may be foraging from agricultural fields or looting inland human leftovers and trash.

Most gulls migrate inland in winter to find food

What do seagulls eat inland?

The gull’s terrestrial diet consists of a great deal of scavenged food, including carrion and human scraps and waste. Gulls are often spotted flying over freshly plowed fields where they may be looking for invertebrates, carrion, insects and small rodents.

What do little seagulls eat?

Juvenile gulls are fed soft, tasty food that is regurgitated into their mouths by either parent. Gull chicks grow quickly and may leave the nest after a few days and travel to nearby vegetation until they are ready to fledge. They may grow feathers after about 6 weeks, though some gulls stay with their parents until they are about 6 months old.

A seagull feeds its young by regurgitating food

Do seagulls eat insects?

Absolutely. All species of gulls will happily eat insects and invertebrates, from flies, beetles and various grubs to earthworms, arthropods and molluscs. Seagulls prey on insects both while in flight or on their wings, and by picking them up from the ground.

Do seagulls eat bread?

Seagulls will definitely eat all the bread offered to them! Bread is nutritionally incomplete and does not provide seagulls (or other birds or animals) with what they need to grow and reproduce. While seagulls are a common sight on beach benches and passers-by throw bread at them in abundance, it’s not an ideal staple.

Seagulls will eat bread, but it is not very nutritious for them and should be avoided

Do Seagulls Eat Bugs?

Seagulls eat bugs, of course. They are often observed flying after combines or other agricultural machinery in hopes of clearing away any disturbing worms and other disturbing insects or animals.

Seagulls follow tractor plows in search of worms

What fish do seagulls eat?

Of all the foods gulls can eat, fish may be their first choice. Gulls eat any and all fish they can fit in their mouths, most commonly including anchovies, candlefish, herring, smelt, sardines, mackerel, catfish, and cuckoo. They also have a particular fondness for shellfish, including molluscs and crustaceans.

How long can a seagull go without eating?

Seagulls eat about 20 percent of their body weight each day and require a high-fat and high-protein diet to maintain their dense muscles. Most gulls can become debilitated without food for about 24 hours or so. Seagulls, however, are flexible eaters and may not struggle to find food when their bodies allow it.

A seagull looking for food in the sky

Which foods are bad for seagulls?

Gulls, like any other animal, including humans, do not thrive on a single diet. While seagulls seem to love bread and chips, these types of foods will not sustain a healthy seagull. Gulls need a varied and nutrient-dense diet of meat and plants to stay healthy.

How do seagulls eat?

Gulls are adaptable hunters and scavengers. Unlike most birds, they can catch prey both in flight and from the ground, and have excellent vision with eyes that move in their sockets. Young gulls congregate in small flocks so they can observe and learn from the adult birds’ hunting and foraging behavior.

Seagulls have large, unhinged jaws that enable them to swallow food whole. They have the ability to eat large amounts of food in one go.

A flock of seagulls fighting for food

Why do seagulls love human food?

Seagulls have been observed to prefer food that has been processed by humans. In fact, one study found that 79 percent of gulls tested chose human-treated food. Seagulls are such perceptive birds that they even observe their predators in order to learn from their movements and behaviors – and they employ similar observations here.

Seagulls can be sure of the quality and safety of human food, so they prefer it. They came to associate human food with the opportunity for an easy meal, which is certainly reflected in their ability to scavenge in the wild.

Seagulls forage for human food from trash bins

Are seagulls aggressive?

Seagulls have a reputation for being aggressive and bloodthirsty birds, especially after recent reports of seagulls attacking dogs, other pets and even humans.

Seagulls are an impressively adaptable species, which is why urban populations have increased dramatically in recent years, and while they are not strictly carnivorous, their opportunistic hunting skills mean there are few opportunities for foraging go through them. Gulls are also large, strong birds and can easily carry prey of around 2kg, making small mammals, including small dogs, effective targets. Their large jaws and flexible throats allow them to swallow their prey whole, including fish, crustaceans, rabbits, mice, and other birds.

Gull attacks on pets and humans are indeed still very rare, but caution should be exercised when exposing small dogs or other small pets around large overhead gulls. In the wild, gulls are no more aggressive and territorial than most other birds.

A hungry seagull lunches with a freshly caught crab

Do Seagulls Eat Crabs?

Seagulls often prey on both live and dead crabs. Catching crabs alive requires the extraordinary skill of seagulls, who have been known to swallow crabs up to five inches in one sitting!

However, seagulls are usually unable to break the crab’s hard shell, so to get inside, they fly their catch high into the air, then drop it enough times for the crab to crack open the flesh inside.

In addition to crabs, seagulls also eat starfish, which they swallow whole in one gulp.