New Chicks | Friday Photo #652 | Lofoten Islands Norway

Photo: Common gull chick stands in driveway between vehicles, Flakstadøy, Lofoten Islands, Norway. June 30, 2025. 19:28

You are being closely watched if you are on Lofoten at the moment. Not from people or any technology, but from the local birdlife. And if you walk in the wrong location, you are likely going to be made aware of the all seeing eyes in the sky as you are dive bombed and screeched at by angry parents.

Like every year, there has been an exponential increase in the already lively bird activity in my neighbourhood. And since it’s no longer spring and horny seagull season, we are onto the next stage of life in Lofoten’s short summer: new chick season. As I’m writing this now, I can see 3 young gull chicks occasionally make an appearance on the rock outside my office window – the same rock as the photo below with the curlew standing atop.

And it’s completely normal to see a pair of gull chicks walking along the edge of the parking lot in Henningsvær or an oyster catcher family in a round a bout in Leknes so you might be attacked just walking down a sidewalk or parking your car. Nature or village, it doesn’t matter to the ground nesting birds.

Growing up in southern California I only knew seagulls as birds that liked to eat trash, steal your food if you were near the beach, and try to poop on you when riding your bike. It was an adversarial relationship between a young me and the seagulls. Little did I know, there are actually many types of birds that I would just call a seagull. And only after moving to Norway, I discovered that the various gulls don’t like each other that much either. It turns out that the large gulls that would try and steal my french fries also like to eat the young chicks of the smaller gulls. Hence the noisy nights at this time of year.

It seems there is something of a peace between several of the birds in my neighbourhood, as the oystercatchers, Curlews, and common gulls don’t seem to predate on each other’s chicks. While the larger herring gulls and black-backed gulls, along with the ravens and crows will be quick to gobble up an unguarded chick should they get the chance.

In the photo below of the curlew on the rock, there are actually 3 common gull chicks at the base. One of the gull parents sits on my sauna, keeping a watchful eye, though doesn’t seem bothered at all by the curlew; whose chicks are also somewhere wandering around in the deep grasses. When the curlew eventually leaves, a parent gull will fly down and feed the 3 hungry chicks.

Camera Info:
Nikon Z8
Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3
370mm
ISO 1100
f6
1/800 Second
WB Daylight