Around 100 gull chicks recovering after fall from roof during Montreal heat wave

The bird rescuers at Le Nichoir in Hudson, Que. are caring for around 100 baby ring-billed gulls who were injured in this week’s heat wave.

Before the chicks could fly, they tried to leave their overheated nests on a flat top roof of an industrial building in the Town of Mount Royal (TMR).

“The SPCA called our wild bird helpline and let us know that an individual had brought in a couple of gulls and then the individual returned again with a couple more,” said Le Nichoir director of operations Susan Wylie.

Le Nichoir is caring for the ones who survived the fall.

“This is a really critical time for colonies,” said Wylie.

Bird care coordinator Jo-Annie Gagnon said she admires their resilience.

“We should celebrate those species that kind of adapted and are able to actually live with us and share our habitat,” said Gagnon. “I find they’re amazing little creatures.”

A trio of ring-billed gull chicks recovers from a fall the Le Nichoir Rescue in Hudson, Que. (Christine Long, CTV News)

As they’re little creatures that eat fish bits and cat food, Le Nichoir is looking for donations and volunteers to take care of the dozens of chicks.

Wylie said the federally protected migratory bird is a “canary in a coal mine.”

“They’re also indicators of the environment and like some of the things that we’re facing, and so they really have an important role in the ecosystem,” she said.

The hatchlings can’t fly yet, but when they’re ready to leave the coop, Le Nichoir volunteers will put them back into the wild.

“We find a nice habitat close to water where we know that gulls have been seen, but there’s not a huge concentration of them, so there’s not too much competition,” said Gagnon.