"Pegleg" - Niagara Falls

[Bird Brain]

Hi everyone.  This morning between 10:45-11:45am, gardens at Clifton Hill/River Road in Niagara Falls.  Sighted the following:

House Sparrows (male and female)
Robins

Ring-billed Gulls x 3 including one missing his right foot.  I nicknamed him "Pegleg".  

Curious to know reason(s) why a gull would be missing a foot!

[peter monahan]

Jo-Ann

I have, over 20 years or so, seen 5 or 6 gulls, all Ring-billed I think, that I was sure were one-legged.     However, in at least three of those cases I watched the bird in question, sometimes for up to 10-15 minutes and discovered that each in fact had two good legs but that for some reason had chosen to draw one up so high it was invisible.  And I'm talking about hopping on the shore, taking off and landing and everything in between with one leg tucked into the belly.

Can't say that the others did not have a missing leg, or that yours didn't but to me the interesting question is "Why do they do that?" as opposed to "What happened to the other leg?"  Either way - true pegleg or not - an interesting observation.  

Peter

PS  Do any of the expert birders have an answer to either question?

[Bird Brain]

Hi Peter.  Thank You for your interesting posting!

My mom & I had a great and long look at "Pegleg" walking/hobbling along the concrete ledge in front of us.  He has both legs, just no right Foot!  We took a good look at the bottom of his right leg and it was lumpy and scarred (I don't have a camera).  He was using his pegleg like a crutch when walking and was moving quite quickly.  He was giving both of us the stare-down and hoping for some lunch.  Meanwhile, we weren't eating anything - just sitting and looking across the street at the Falls.  

[thouc]

My guess would be a fish trying to grab a meal and only got a foot.

[peter monahan]

My guess would be a fish trying to grab a meal and only got a foot.

Or some kind of disease.  Years ago now there were many Mourning Doves in toronto losing toes and even feet, to some type of fungal disease I think.  That was several decades ago so I can't recall all the details.

Peter