Anyone who has lived on the North Olympic Peninsula knows sea gulls and their splatter come with the territory.
“I wish we could put diapers on all of them,” said Port Angeles Downtown Association Executive Director Barb Frederick.
Anecdotal evidence on cars and sidewalks suggests the gulls are bombing Peninsula waterfronts, but longtime residents said it’s par for the course.
“This time of year, it’s always bad,” said Steve Chamberlain, who owns First Race Car Wash in Port Angeles.
Reports from East Jefferson County depict a burgeoning nuisance.
“Sea gulls have taken over Port Townsend,” said Port of Port Townsend Executive Assistant Sue Nelson. “There’s definitely a huge number this year.”
Nelson, who could see sea gull feathers outside her office window Friday, said the evidence is painted all over Water Street downtown.
“It’s nasty,” said Roger Ramey, who owns Penny Saver Mart on East Sims Way.
Ramey said his business has been spared the guano epidemic because it is further inland.
But his customers who park downtown said their vehicles are getting bombed.
In downtown Port Angeles, a pickup truck’s paint on its hood has been blistered by gull bombs.
Experts can’t confirm there are any more sea gulls this year than normal.
The Victoria Times Colonist and The Port Townsend/Jefferson County Leader reported this month that a growing eagle population might be driving sea gulls into cities and towns.
Robert Steelquist, education coordinator for the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, said that hypothesis is “entirely plausible.”
“As an active predator, [eagles] will have a strong influence on other populations,” Steelquist said.
Edna Petersen, owner of Necessities and Temptations gift shop in Port Angeles, is prepared.
She and other downtown merchants have hired people to remove sea gull nests from buildings.
“There a lot of us who are proactive about it,” said Petersen, whose business at the corner of Laurel Street and Railroad Avenue is “in the flight pattern” of sea gulls.
Petersen and other business owners said there are actually fewer gulls in Port Angeles this summer than normal.
Daljit Seera, who runs the 76 Food Mart, and his wife, Kulwinder, said there have been fewer sea gulls scavenging through the trash this year.
City of Port Angeles Executive Communications Coordinator Teresa Pierce said no one has complained about a sea gull nuisance to City Hall.
“We have not discussed it in the City Manager’s Office,” Pierce said.
Frederick said tourists haven’t complained, either.
Downtown association members are accustomed to cleaning their storefronts and sidewalks, she said.
“I think there’s always been a sea gull problem,” Frederick said
“I think it’s less this year, but it’s still a problem.”
Forks Mayor Bryon Monohon said the inland city is out of the line of fire.
He added that sea gulls do congregate in nearby fields.
“It’s not an issue that I know of,” Monohon said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
