It’s a bird city

Silhouetted bird in profile standing on city pavement with warm backlighting and blurred urban background in Cork City

Seagull with open beak standing over a discarded sandwich on asphalt pavement in Cork City

Adult seagull and juvenile gull sharing a dropped sandwich on a city street in Cork, with the younger bird showing mottled brown plumage

Cork City, where birds have become incredibly adept at turning human carelessness into dining opportunities.

Urban-adapted birds like the seagulls and crows photographed here have developed significantly different behaviours compared to their rural counterparts. City-dwelling seagulls often show reduced fear responses to humans and have learned to time their foraging around peak human activity periods, such as lunch hours when dropped food is most available.

Crows, meanwhile, have demonstrated remarkable problem-solving abilities in urban environments and can even learn to associate specific locations with regular food sources. Studies have shown that urban bird populations often have different dietary compositions, stress hormone levels, and even song patterns compared to rural birds, reflecting their adaptation to city life and the constant presence of human activity.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length150mm
ISO400
Shutter speed1/320s

Growing Up by the Sea in Cork

Black and white silhouette of teenagers standing on a fishing pier with seagulls perched on equipment and masts against a bright sky in Ballycotton, County Cork.

It was a lovely evening in Ballycotton last Thursday, and a group of teenagers were making the most of it, jumping off the pier into the water and enjoying life.


Apertureƒ/8
CameraILCE-7RM5
Focal length240mm
ISO100
Shutter speed1/800s

The gull fight

Gulls fight over a few crumbs of bread at the Lough in Cork. Taken during a photowalk there last year.

Aperture ƒ/6.3
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 200mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/400s

The birds of Schull

Two seagulls wander into the water on the slip that serves the Bere Ferry in Schull Harbour.

Jacinta was the first to notice that actually, the Bere Ferry does not go from Schull. It lands at Castletownbere! Oops!

Aperture ƒ/9
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 22mm
ISO 100
Shutter speed 1/125s