Watch out for the birds at WDW!

britdaw

britdaw

Well-Known Member
Anyone else catch the irony at the username of the OP? :) I had visions of Carl shooing Kevin's babies away from his food in MK.
I guess it's mean of me but I'd be laughing if I saw this happening... As long as it wasn't MY food the birds were after. ;) LOL
 
Disneykidder

Disneykidder

Well-Known Member
Haha. As soon as I saw the thread name, I started laughing at an incident that occurred when I was there in the late 90s. My friend and I were taking a break on a bench eating McDonald's french fries from the cart in the MK. There was a fry in my friends hand and a bird came down and swooped the fry right out of her hand as it was its way to her mouth. We both just sat there with our mouths open in shock. We just joked and said that the birds were lucky to live in the happiest place on earth and are probably verrry well fed. But, yeah, the birds there have been a problem for years in WDW.
 
Railfan Andrew

Railfan Andrew

Well-Known Member
I guess Disney had the right idea when they created these guys...
giphy.gif
 
Goofyernmost

Goofyernmost

Well-Known Member
captainkidd said:
I was being extremely sarcastic.
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Can't be that around here. Anything said, is taken like confirmed fact. No grey areas at all. I once made the, tongue in cheek, solution of grabbing them by the head and with a quick flick of the wrist, the problem would be what to do with the body. I thought they were going to send the cops after me. That was the way my grandfather used to take the first step of having chicken for dinner.
 
donsullivan

donsullivan

Premium Member
CarlFredricksen said:
Just getting back from a short 3 day trip to the world, and aside from a few minor things, had a great time. Alot under scrims/refurbishment, but lines generally 20m or less and Fastpass was readily available, so no complaining.

The one thing I'll take away from this trip was the birds - specifically seagulls - were out of control. This was my 9th in as many years and I've never seen more seagulls flying around, being VERY aggressive towards guests. In EPCOT I saw one swoop down and literally knock a funnel cake out of a guys hand, only to have about 20 seagulls on it within seconds. Same thing at MK near splash with a corn dog. And I feel like in the past the birds would generally stay away from humans; not anymore. I saw more guests running from the birds than birds from guests! I even saw a few scared little kids crying it was so bad! The auxiliary path/bridge in fronteirland that runs from splash along the water to liberty square had so many birds on it no one was walking on it.

I know WDW can't make the birds 'go away' forever, however I feel some deterrents need to be applied to keep them at bay. Maybe this is a seasonal thing? I feel some sort of super high pitched sound humans can't hear could work, or smell that keeps them away? Anyone seen it this bad or CM doing anything to keep them at bay?
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Sorry for being so late to this, just saw the thread. The mid-winter seagull invasion is something that has happened forever and outside of climate change it's not going to change. I had someone explain it to me that it's driven by a seasonal shift where the gulf stream along Florida's east coast moves further offshore during the winter cooling the waters and reducing their feeding options. They migrate inland during that time looking for food. Since the theme parks (they invade them all) are ripe with people dropping food and even worse people feeding them, they hang around. It's a guaranteed source of food during that season. Disney can't do much of anything about them or the environmental groups will be all over them in the courts and media. They've tried everything they can both physical and audible and nothing seems to deter them for long. Hunger is a pretty aggressive motivator.

The ONLY thing that will stop this is if EVERYONE stops feeding them. Once there is no food for them they'll stop coming back. But decades of guests can't seem to be taught that so they keep coming back.
 
D

Driver

Well-Known Member
donsullivan said:
Sorry for being so late to this, just saw the thread. The mid-winter seagull invasion is something that has happened forever and outside of climate change it's not going to change. I had someone explain it to me that it's driven by a seasonal shift where the gulf stream along Florida's east coast moves further offshore during the winter cooling the waters and reducing their feeding options. They migrate inland during that time looking for food. Since the theme parks (they invade them all) are ripe with people dropping food and even worse people feeding them, they hang around. It's a guaranteed source of food during that season. Disney can't do much of anything about them or the environmental groups will be all over them in the courts and media. They've tried everything they can both physical and audible and nothing seems to deter them for long. Hunger is a pretty aggressive motivator.

The ONLY thing that will stop this is if EVERYONE stops feeding them. Once there is no food for them they'll stop coming back. But decades of guests can't seem to be taught that so they keep coming back.
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Exactly this ^^^^^ people think it cool feeding the animals but the fall out is they get aggressive. How can you blame the parks? The guest did this over time. And management is in a lose lose situation, as soon as they take action someone will call fowl ( no joke intended) . I am having a similar problem with squirrels, a neighbor was feeding them corn. He just moved away now the squirrels are eating everything in the area. Including our gardens, there are half eaten vegetables and tomatoes all over people's lawns. And he doesn't have to deal with the problem he created!!
 
Fankle

Fankle

Active Member
I don't remember EVER seeing a seagull on any of our previous WDW trips. At coastal towns and cities in the UK they're a complete menace. huge, aggressive and in many places, completely out-of-control. To the point where eating anything outdoors should be classed as a dangerous sport. They've learned that food is readily available in the towns - tearing open bags of household rubbish and strewing it over the street, raiding rubbish bins and taking food directly from people eating it.

I really hope WDW isn't facing this kind of a problem. Different regions in the UK deal with them in different ways with varying degrees of success but it's not a trivial problem to fix once the birds set up residence........
 
WEDwaydatamover

WEDwaydatamover

Well-Known Member
I'm certain that WDW does not want to ruffle any feathers and chance reminding folks about their Discovery Island animal cruelty/ abuses towards aggressive birds I would assume. 16 counts against them by the State.
 
LAKid53

LAKid53

Official Member of the Girly Girl Fan Club
Premium Member
MichelleMaBelle said:
Two years ago I saw a seagull swoop down and snatch a fried dough from a little girl and fly off. Talk about *MINE!*. And the little girl just stood there like "what just happened?" I was amused, but it's crazy how comfortable they've gotten around people.

Although, the gulls that like to walk around on the tarps above the outdoor tables at Rose & Crown are entertaining to watch - all you can see is their little foot prints walking around above you. I even took a video of it :lol:
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And one of those wicked birds stole the piece of fish right out of my hand as I was preparing to eat it, bonking me in the head in the process. If I'd had a sling shot, there be a seagull floating feet up in the lagoon.... :mad:
 
GVentola

GVentola

Well-Known Member
I used to feed the birds sometimes, until one day I was feeding some grackles popcorn at Animal Kingdom. I thought it was okay because grackles, like gulls, will eat about anything, and they're wild birds, not Disney-owned that are on special diets. But a cast member accosted me and politely asked me to stop. I haven't fed any birds at any theme parks since then. But perhaps Disney brought this on themselves. After all, the movie "Mary Poppins" (and the stage version) would make it sound like feeding the birds is the most generous, wonderful thing a person can do to show their love for the world. Tuppence, tuppence...
 

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