We can't all be pretty

I am guessing this is a juvenile herring gull. They are much bigger than the (rather prettier) black headed gulls (see the second picture).

I tend to think of waterbirds (ducks and geese, coots and grebes) as a little dim, which may not be fair. I'm pretty sure, though, that gulls are smart. They are generalists and so will take advantage of any opportunity. They apparently time their activities to make sure they're around when humans might drop food. And I think there are stories of them dropping things to break them open, something crows also do. Indeed, there's a fair bit to be found on the web about gulls being intelligent: see here, and here (these guys want to remove gulls when they disturb humans), and here (this one is about supporting gulls).

The crows are dwarfed by those big gulls, but they'll chase off these smaller ones.

I've seen how smart the black headed gulls are: I'm sure they, like the crows, recognise me. They arrive in groups and social living tends to correlate with intelligence. So, does that mean starlings are super-clever? Yes, apparently so.