Talk:Gull egg

Photo request: Gull eggs as food
Would love to get a photo of gull eggs for sale in a shop or as served at a restaurant. If anyone encounters such a thing, your snapshots would improve this article! TY jengod (talk) 02:53, 29 May 2023 (UTC)

Illegal in the United States
The article states that, "Egging is illegal in the contiguous United States under various federal laws including the Lacey Act of 1900, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, and the Endangered Species Act of 1969. " The given source discusses some fishermen who were arrested in 1990 for illegally poaching the eggs of pelicans and gulls from a bird sanctuary. It implies that what they did (harvesting the eggs of protected species from a protected location) was illegal, but not that the harvesting of eggs more generally is illegal.

This seriously misstates the state of the law and the content of the source. It is illegal to take the eggs of protected species, and it is illegal to take eggs from protected locations but not all species are protected by those acts. To simply state that "egging is illegal" falsely implies that it is always illegal in all circumstances to take wild bird eggs.

Moreover, I added a failed verification tag earlier in the article where you define the term "egging" as foraging for eggs. The source cited for that does not use that term at all, much less define it thusly. ~  ONUnicorn (Talk&#124;Contribs) problem solving 19:00, 2 June 2023 (UTC)


 * I added some additional sources about the illegality of wild-bird egging in the contiguous United States (with a footnote about exceptions for invasive species), as opposed to by indigenous peoples of Alaska. There's a sideline to be considered about permitted hunting of game birds, or rare permits for nest management, but IMHO that should be a separate bird law in the United States and falls outside the purview of the article about "gull eggs as food." jengod (talk) 20:11, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I think the newly-added sources verify the claim that egging is illegal in the US (at least without a permit). The text of the Migratory Birds Treaty says: "Unless and except as permitted by regulations ... it shall be unlawful at any time, by any means or in any manner ... to pursue, hunt, take ... any migratory bird, any part, nest, or egg of any such bird". This government website makes it clear that the treaty doesn't only cover migratory birds but all birds native to the US, and also notes, as jengod says, that the granting of permits is so rare as to be hardly worth mentioning (though I'm personally neutral as to whether we should mention it). Sojourner in the earth (talk) 20:40, 2 June 2023 (UTC)
 * I just read https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-50/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-21 on USFWS bird management permits, and I still think egging (defined as taking eggs from wild bird nests for personal consumption or sale) of any wild bird is just plain illegal in the contiguous (mainland/lower 48) United States. There are various possible permits to destroy birds and/or nests under certain circumstances, but even if you can, say, get a permit to kill cattle egrets and barn owls in Hawaii "No one may retain for personal use, offer for sale, barter or trade, or sell a cattle egret or a barn owl or any feathers, parts, nests, or nest contents taken under this section" you just have bury the bodies ASAP. It gets slightly more involved in re captive-raised waterfowl/ducks species for hunting, falcons for falconry, the whole eagles group, and when the locality is Hawaii, but from what I can see the U.S. statutory language is very strict and I see nothing to the effect of "yes you can sometimes have a permit to touch/take/eat/sell/rob eggs from bird nests" unless *maybe* you're a scientist doing research. You can sometimes maybe get a permit to destroy or remove specific bird (Canada geese, crows, jays, cormorants, purple swamphens, et al) nests for specific reasons, but never for personal use, recreational or commercial purposes.

Alaska has different rules, part 92 of subchapter G of this chapter (the Alaska subsistence harvest regulations) but I maintain that within the lower 48 U.S. states egging for personal or commercial use is illegal and prosecutable.

jengod (talk) 22:16, 5 June 2023 (UTC)