By Benjamin Minch, Staff Writer
Seagulls have long been a numerous part of Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) wildlife population. Sitting on top of the gym, they watch patiently for food to drop then strategically swing down to get it. The seagulls were quite terrifying, but interesting and intelligent creatures at the same time. These gulls however, are on the decline at FVHS and barely any roam the campus this year. What is causing this decline? What does this mean for the future of our seagull population in Orange County?
For the last three years, seagulls have populated FVHS and were quite numerous. At their peak population of 43, they were seen roaming the campus throughout the day. Squawks could be heard basically everywhere on campus. The population was thriving off of food scraps left by students during lunch.
To see if this trend continued into this school year, I decided to point count seagulls from various points during the day, from in front of the gym. This was during the week of Oct. 16-20. Each time, I counted for five minutes to see how many seagulls flew by. The results were drastically smaller.
Monday 10 a.m. – 2 seagulls
Tuesday 8 a.m. – 5 seagulls
Wednesday 11:30 a.m. – 0 seagulls
Thursday 8 a.m. – 4 seagulls
Friday 11 a.m. – 0 seagulls
This data represents a very drastic decrease in seagull population around FVHS, especially during later hours in the morning. This seems odd because these hours are closer to lunch, the main meal time for the seagulls during the day, which begs the question, “Are seagulls leaving out of fear, rather than lack of food?”
Doing some background research on the decline of seagulls in Orange County, I fell upon an article that was quite interesting and is a possible solution to the seagull decline at FVHS. According to the OC Register, “Orange County has hired falcons for 1.8 million dollars to destroy the seagull problem”. This happened in July of 2017.
These Peregrine falcons were hired with the sole purpose of killing or scaring away seagulls from Orange County because the seagulls had been pestering their landfills. This could be the cause of the massive decline in seagulls around FVHS, especially during later hours when the seagulls are more exposed to the falcons. Although no falcons have been seen around FVHS, the fear of these falcons have probably driven seagulls far north or south away from Orange County.
It is sad to see this decline in the seagull population over fear of falcons, but it is a move that the county believes will be better for the people who live here. Many people do not like seagulls, or are terrified of them, so it is very reasonable that the county decided to try and eliminate them. I will continue to think of them as highly intelligent and interesting birds and they will always be a part of the history and soul of FVHS.
