{"id":40744,"date":"2019-08-09T13:08:03","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T17:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/?p=40744"},"modified":"2019-08-09T18:56:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-09T22:56:32","slug":"when-gulls-attack-just-stare-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.allaboutbirds.org\/news\/when-gulls-attack-just-stare-back\/","title":{"rendered":"When Gulls Attack, Just Stare Back"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A
A Herring Gull snatches an ice cream cone. Photo by Per Andr\u00e9n<\/a> via Birdshare<\/a>.<\/em><\/figcaption>\n <\/figure><\/div>\n

Soaring, swooping gulls add to the magic of a summer day at the beach\u2014but they\u2019re not always a welcome sight: Herring Gulls, for example, can be aggressive around people who are eating, and on some beaches will even swipe food right out of people\u2019s hands. Keep your guard up or else a stealthy bird may make off with your fried clams or ice cream cone.<\/p>\n

A new study<\/a> points at a way to safely deter these would-be food-snatchers: engage the gulls in a good old-fashioned stare-down.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the University of Exeter in the U.K. wanted to know whether Herring Gulls foraging on beaches in one region of England would react to a perceived threat as they make a play for a bit of food. To do this, they designed an experiment to test the gulls\u2019 \u201csensitivity to gaze.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New<\/a><\/span>