Florida seagull experiment: Do googly eyes really keep birds away from food?

Protecting snacks from seagulls

A University of Exeter study found googly eyes deterred seagulls about 50% of the time, but a Florida beach test showed birds still swarmed the food. FOX 13's Danielle Zulkosky reports.

INDIAN ROCKS BEACH, Fla. - A study from the University of Exeter wanted to test ways to keep seagulls away from food in the United Kingdom.

By the numbers:

The experimenters put googly eyes on plain boxes of food and found it kept foraging birds away 50% of the time.

Local perspective:

It was an interesting theory to test, so FOX 13 decided to try it out Florida style.

Googly eyes were placed on a bag of Cheetos to see if it would scare off the seagulls.

"If you look at them straight in the eyes, they want to turn away," Lynne Harding, a volunteer with Birds in Helping Hands, said.

The bag was sealed and after shaking it on the beach, and despite showing the birds the googly eyes, they swarmed the bag.

What they're saying:

"I don't know if that's the most effective way to prevent them from getting food off the beach," Harding said.

One man said he lives at the beach and found the color of the snacks and packing made a difference.

"They like red, orange, any red, orange bag comes out," Tom Jones said. "They will swarm over your head."

The study focused on European herring gulls — a bird rarely found in Florida. Advocates said the message is the same no matter the bird.

"We should not be feeding wild animals, wild birds, people food," Harding said. "It's not healthy for them."

Dig deeper:

Experts in Florida say there are more effective ways to protect your food.

"Sealed containers like a canvas bag or a Ziploc bag, or the ones you get, the containers you'd have from takeout that have plastic covers, they're closed and put them inside and away so that they don't see it," Harding said.

You can also sit under an umbrella or tent to prevent the birds from diving in and stealing food out of your hands.

It is important that you keep your food secure. While on the beach, a flock of seagulls managed to open up a plastic Target bag and eat an entire box of unattended Cheez-It crackers.

"They attack. They will grab the bags and rip, poke, tear and try to find out what's inside," Jones said. "They know what is going on. They're birds. They got bird brains. But they know where the food is."

Harding suggests keeping food in a closed cooler or a secured beach bag that you can close, especially when leaving food unattended. 

"Me and my family were having a good time at the beach. And when we came back for our lunch, our Jersey Mike’s sub was completely gone," Trey Werner, a visitor, said. "It unraveled our sandwich and took all of it."

It is illegal to purposely feed wildlife, like seagulls, on the beach.