00:01While the debate inside Parliament House can get noisy,
00:06outside the building there's something even louder.
00:11Hundreds of silver gulls, better known as seagulls,
00:14have been ruffling feathers on Parliament's forecourt.
00:18They create a lot of noise, a lot of mess,
00:20and eventually they start harassing people for food.
00:23Breeding season has begun and the birds see the island
00:26in the middle of the forecourt water feature
00:28as a perfect nesting ground.
00:31Silver gulls are very prone to predation by foxes,
00:34by land-based animals, and that's why they breed on island.
00:38Landscapers have now covered the plants in the forecourt
00:40with grow cloths, proven effective in the past
00:43in encouraging the birds to nest elsewhere.
00:46But as the sun goes down, the gulls keep making an appearance.
00:50They're just resting really in a large social group
00:53and I think this is really what goes on with a lot of birds
00:57at this time of the year.
00:58There's a lot of social behaviour going on
01:00where they're forming their pairs.
01:02And what's left behind needs to be washed away the next morning.
01:06They're now having to clean up the duck and seagull poo.
01:09But we do also see that as the seagull numbers increase,
01:13we have to treat the water more.
01:15So we're adding more chlorine into the water.
01:18Experts say there's no need to get into a flap.
01:20They're expected to fly off to pastures new within a few weeks.
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