BirdGuides 683d7fe0-a0e2-4626-925a-e1dd4e0b3790
An adult Glaucous Gull, found freshly dead at Lough Baun, on the Co Mayo coast west of Louisburgh on 10 January, is suspected to have been shot.
The sad discovery is the latest in a line of unexplained incidents from the coastline between Roonah Quay and Cross Lough in recent years, all involving gulls.
This is the third Glaucous Gull to be found dead there in such circumstances in the last few years alone – for the discoverer of the latest bird (which was observed alive and well the previous week), it is the second adult picked up there. Furthermore, an oversummering youngster was found freshly dead at Roonah Lough on 17 September 2018, alongside at least four dead Great Black-backed Gulls. The latest bird appears to have been partially plucked by a predator, presumably a Peregrine Falcon, although this doesn t appear to have been the cause of death.