Are Seagulls Native to the Bay Area?

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 14 August 2025

⏱️ 19 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Seagulls are everywhere in the Bay Area — flocking to Giant's games in San Francisco and crowding South Bay salt ponds. But are they actually native? Once seasonal visitors from Mono Lake, they've recently become year-round residents. We get to the bottom of this gull invasion. Additional Resources: Are California Gulls Native or Invasive to the Bay Area? Maybe Both Read the transcript for this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Got a question you want answered? Ask! Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Pauline Bartolone. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Gabriela Glueck and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Olivia Allen-Price, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Alana Walker, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Bianca Taylor, host and producer of KQED's Daily News Podcast, the latest.
0:06.3	You probably have heard, maybe even from KQED, that Congress recently voted to eliminate funding to NPR, PBS, and all local stations.
0:16.5	And yes, that does include KQED.
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0:23.2	this podcast, loses $8 million per year for at least the next two years. This threatens our
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0:56.5	We're still here, we're still public, and we still rely on you. So please give now at kQED.org slash podcasts. Have you ever
1:05.7	stopped to ask what do your kids need to learn and thrive right now? Hi, I'm Nima Gobeer, co-host of MindShift, a podcast exploring the ways education can help kids find their voice, balance identity, and just be kids.
1:21.7	MindShift provides practical tips and expert insights for how to better show up for young people in the classroom and beyond.
1:29.0	And we've been doing it for the last decade.
1:32.4	Listen to MindShift wherever you get your podcasts.
1:37.2	From KQED.
1:40.0	Seagulls are everywhere we go in the Bay Area, swooping into Giants games at Oracle Park.
1:46.2	Hey, the seagulls are here.
1:48.6	Making it difficult for planes to take off at the San Jose airport.
1:52.5	We 1118 just hit a bird, incidentary, clearing an emergency, returning to San Jose.
1:56.9	And generally being a nuisance. Ask almost anyone who has eaten anything outside, and they'll have a Siegel story.
	...

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