Do seals eat sea birds

dylanwinter

dylanwinter

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I am just editing a bit about the River Alde - I spent a fair amount of time at Troublesmome Reach under Iken Cliff

theere was one local seal

and it did seem to be attempting to sneak up on the sea birds that were starting to arrive on the emerging mud flast that had started to appear as the tide dropped

it was also "playing" with the base of the withies and my anchor chain - rubing its body on them under the water

it was rather weird

any information gratefully received

Dylan

 
Seals are carnivorous animals, so I suppose they may take an opportunist lunge at the odd sea bird.

As far as I am aware their main sustenance is provided by fish, which they are perfectly evolved to hunt.
 
claymore said:
Well that's hardly surprising in a country where they have birds that eat the seals off car doors and windows.

Now whether those self same seals are partial to birds is anyone's guess
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Very good. :D

Evidence that birds eat seals, but none that seals eat birds.



Here is one eating a sheep.

 
dylanwinter said:
I am just editing a bit about the River Alde - I spent a fair amount of time at Troublesmome Reach under Iken Cliff

theere was one local seal

and it did seem to be attempting to sneak up on the sea birds that were starting to arrive on the emerging mud flast that had started to appear as the tide dropped

it was also "playing" with the base of the withies and my anchor chain - rubing its body on them under the water

it was rather weird

any information gratefully received

Dylan
Click to expand...

I saw a seal playing catch with a shag several years ago, kept tossing it in the air til it stopped flapping so much. our local nature guide reckoned that it might have been trying to strip the feathers off before eating it. Never seen it since and it was the most active behaviour I have ever seen from a seal.
 
Major Catastrophe said:
Don't laugh, but in New Zealand, they have a parrot that eats sheep.
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;-)

Very good Major, I laughed.

Claymore, you’ll probably remember, it’s a fair old walk, nine or ten miles perhaps, from Dalwhinnie to Culra bothy. Now, if you are mildly Corinthian, as we once were, you can park the car at Dalwhinnie and walk all the way in, or you could do it the easy way by arranging to borrow the estate key to the gated track and driving much of the way. So, one Friday night in an early winter, Mme S, Minnie S, then about ten years old, and I had a magical walk to Culra, with snow, ice, and frost sparkling in the moonlight (this was before global warming, you’ll understand).

Now, thgis was still in the rutting season and the red deer stags can be a bit funny and should be avoided, but no one ever said anything about the estate’s ponies that roam free. We had a wonderful weekend in hills echoing to the roar of stags, but as we walked out in the cold dusk of Sunday evening, we saw the parked cars surrounded by ponies.

Now, when I say surrounded, I mean at the front, the back, nearside, offside, on the bonnet, and the roof. They had comprehensively trashed them, with great gouges in the car bodies, windows smashed, and paint stripped off. Paint? They had a liking for the salt that had been sprayed up from the road, and ponies’ being what they are, the paint added additional flavouring. The cars, as far as I recall, were written off.

Incidentally, I can’t imagine what’s been going on there, but I see that on Lewis the deer have taken to staring though people’s windows. Very disconcerting.
 
Pick up a P....

Leopard seals regularly patrol the sea just off penguin colonies on the Southern Cape, in order to feed on jackass penguins shuttling to and fro to feed their young.
The tossing about of prey is common behaviour, I have seen an Atlantic grey seal do this with a large cuttlefish, with the release of much ink.
 
wrr said:
Leopard seals regularly patrol the sea just off penguin colonies on the Southern Cape, in order to feed on jackass penguins shuttling to and fro to feed their young.
The tossing about of prey is common behaviour, I have seen an Atlantic grey seal do this with a large cuttlefish, with the release of much ink.
Click to expand...

Sadly, Leopard seals can also mistake humans for their normal prey; which is seals and penguins. Sadly because we lost a young scientist to a Leopard seal a few years ago.
 
Drumochter

Sgeir said:
;-)

Very good Major, I laughed.

Claymore, you’ll probably remember, it’s a fair old walk, nine or ten miles perhaps, from Dalwhinnie to Culra bothy.
Click to expand...

Sgeir my jurassic old toothpick - the only memory I have of Dalwhinnie was getting the last bed in the hotel when the snows closed the pass. Again - prior to Global Warming.

The lassie I was with was married (tae someone else - but not happily) and I'd offered her a lift to Edinburgh where her parents lived.

It was a grand nicht........
 
Reminds me of this joke:

So a penguin is driving his car in the desert. All of sudden his car breaks down. Luckily, he's pretty close to gas station. So he waddles behind his car and pushes it to the gas station. He asks the mechanic to take a look and find the problem. Mechanic tells him to come back in 30 minutes. So the penguin is getting hot being in the desert and all, and decides to find something to cool him off. He goes in the convenience store and buys some vanilla ice cream. He eats the ice cream and makes a big mess on his face. Finally he goes back to the mechanic to find out the problem. Mechanic says," Looks like you blew a seal." To which the penguin replies, "No, no. It's just a little ice cream."

The old ones are the best :D
 
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