My rosemary plant got snatched by a seagull on my Brooklyn fire escape

I was doing my usual morning watering on my fire escape garden in Brooklyn last Tuesday when a GIANT seagull divebombed and flew off with my biggest rosemary plant, pot and all. I just stood there holding the watering can while it perched on a water tower across the street and dropped the pot four stories onto a car rooftop. Has anyone else had birds go after their container plants, or am I just cursed with feathered jerks?

2 comments

2 Comments

theas9412d ago

dropped the pot four stories onto a car rooftop" that visual actually made me laugh out loud but wait. I wonder if the rosemary smell is what attracted it. Birds don't have a great sense of smell compared to mammals BUT seabirds are different. Seagulls use smell to find food from way up high. Rosemary is strong and maybe somewhere in that seagulls brain it smelled like fish or something it associates with eating. Maybe try planting mint or lavender instead because those scents are too strong or different and won't trigger food mode. Or just get a fake plant for the fire escape and hide the real one inside a window box with a screen top.

anna_hill12d ago

Wait, is that actually true about seagulls using smell more than other birds? I always thought birds just went by sight for food. But you might be onto something with the rosemary. I had a pot of basil on my balcony last summer and had seagulls all over it, never made the connection until now. Guess I was wrong about how birds find their food. Might have to rethink what I plant out there.