Seagull – Spirit Animal, Totem, Symbolism and Meaning

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Seagulls live inhabit the whole world and they live at magical places where land meets the sea, but also lake coasts and riverbanks. They are incredibly adaptive species, not demanding and naturally equipped to live in various climates.

No wonder they could be found almost everywhere on our planet. Seagulls are a family of many sub species; there are about forty different types of seagulls.However, they all share similar characteristics. All seagulls love waters of the world, in the first place.

These amazing coastal birds have long wings, sharp, characteristically shaped beaks and short, square tails. Their feet have skin membranes intended for swimming, but seagulls are actually not marine birds. They come in many sizes and in variations of colors, depending on particular sub specie.

Since seagulls are most often seen at ports and seacoasts, they are associated with sailing, ships, marine travels and maritime in general. Seeing a seagull is a hopeful sign for any sailor returning home from a long expedition, over miles and miles of infinite waterscapes.

Seagulls are quite amazing birds in nature, besides their symbolic value for sailors and people in general.

They are known to be faithful and loyal partners; a couple of seagulls remind forever together. Their union represents unconditional love, mutual respect and loyalty. They are also caring and protective parents.

Both male and female seagulls take good care about their eggs and little ones; they both feed them and keep an eye on them. Seagulls have amazing social structure and behavior.

Once young ones come out to this world, they attend some sort of seagulls’ ‘day nursery’ for little birds. The nursery is constantly overlooked and taken care of by several older male seagulls.

Little ones play, have fun, fight amongst themselves and learn all the skills needed for survival. Little seagulls are not meant to leave this special bird nursery, until they are capable of taking care about themselves. Seagulls are incredibly resourceful birds.

They are capable of finding food almost everywhere and they are known not to be picky at all. In addition, seagulls are intelligent birds.

For example, they know how to get the juicy, delicious flesh out of shells. They also dig food from the ground, hunt rodents and small fish. Seagulls literally clean beaches from all sorts of stuff we consider thrash, so, in some countries, they are nationally protected species.

Another amazing fact about seagulls is that these birds are capable of  drinking salty sea water; they have special set of glands that allows they to ‘process’ salty water and dispose of salt content through their mouth.

Cultural significance of seagulls

Known as intelligent birds, seagulls have been fascinating people for long. They are not only tough, capable of surviving, skillful and resourceful, but seagulls also show incredible communication skills.

Their vocalization and motor skills include a wide range of complex signs that help seagulls efficiently exchange important information amongst themselves.

There are many other reasons for people to be fascinated by seagulls.

People of Utah in the United States have been thankful to seagulls since the first half of the nineteenth century. Back into 1848., Mormon pioneers in Utah have faced a devastating invasion of gluttonous locusts.

As we know, locusts in large numbers bring disaster to people’s crops and damage the whole chain of food production, leaving the land barren, which then triggers famine and everything that goes with it.

Thankfully, there were many seagulls in Utah. Without knowing that, seagulls helped people to beat the merciless locust invasion. In memory of that event, known as the Miracle of the gulls, people of Utah built a memorial statue in Salt Lake City.

A similar event have taken place in California, a century later, when seagulls exterminated thousands of locusts that had been destroying people’s crops in the area.

People familiar with advantages of having seagulls near their settlements greatly respect and admire seagulls, but so do others, who have no actual benefit from seagulls. However, thanks to their fascinating nature, seagulls are symbolically valued around the world.

Seagulls represent various things and we will talk about that a bit later on. There are also numerous amazing folktales and legends about seagulls. One Innu legend tells about a seagull that saved two little bears from a scary monster that killed their mother.

Native American tribes have always had special appreciation for these birds and seagulls were common clan totem animals. Two good examples of Seagull clans are tribes Athna and Chippewa.

Seagulls are commonly featured in Native American tribal art, but they are present in other traditions around the world.

In Ancient Greece, seagulls were associated with the so-called ‘White goddess’, Leukothea, a beautiful and adored nymph.

Of course, we have to mention how important seagull symbolism is to all maritime people.

Sailors would often put on a tattoo representing a seagull, as a lucky charm.

To all sailors, from admirals to ship boys, seagulls represent freedom, hope, safe journey and safe return home. Seeing a seagull means you are near coast, near any coast that could offer help, if needed, or a coast of your homeland.

Even in the toughest maritime veterans, a sight of seagulls could provoke an avalanche of the most fragile and pure emotions, of incredible joy and relief after a long journey.

Seagull symbolism

Seagull symbolizes optimism, positivity, freedom and hope. At the same time, it represents bonds, loyalty and warmth. Seagulls are bound to coastlines; however, they never seem restrained and restricted. They fly freely and take good care of themselves.

Seagulls are capable, skillful and resourceful birds, so they symbolize both self-reliance and trustfulness. They are sociable and they represent the importance of unity and community.

Seagulls represent light spirit, optimism and energy. They are, in a way, sailors of destiny. Seagulls represent our ability to adapt to situations in life and to follow our destiny without fighting it.

That is a free spirit; to be able to accept things you cannot change, but take all the best from what the world has to offer. Seagulls also represent toughness, strength and flexibility. They encourage us to endure and overcome all the difficult times and enjoy the happy ones.

These birds symbolize calmness, fearlessness and harmony. As you know, seagulls share habitat with humans, but they actually do not have much of direct interaction with us.

However, they are not afraid of humans or other living creatures; they act calmly and keep on doing their business.

Since seagulls are associated with good omens for sailors, they symbolize good omens in general; seeing a seagull means you are about to receive some good news.

Seagulls represent hope for better times and are considered lucky and fortunate. They represent freedom of spirit and openness of mind, but also self-sacrifice and selflessness.

They embody the idea of perfect balance between one’s personal needs and compassion, risky adventure and safe return, openness to new idea, without disrespect for little things we already have.

Seagulls logically symbolize the power of the sea, sea travel and journey in general.

Moreover, on more abstract level, they represent human soul and its spiritual journey.

Seagulls symbolize spiritual development and the incredible ability of our soul and mind to travel across both real and spiritual landscapes, in search for a divine and higher purpose.

Seagull totem and spiritual powers

Seagull is a wonderful totem that offer calm and steady guidance through life. Seagull totem teaches us life is about finding a perfect balance between having some really good, fun times and being responsible. Seagull people are, thus, some of the most emotionally stable and calm individuals.

They are caring, loving and kind, but they also know when to be tough, determined and unappealing. Seagull people have a warm heart and an armor of steal. Seagull people are adventurous and inventive. They do love to take risks and enter amazing, exciting and inspiring new projects.

However, they would always try to find some sense in everything they are about to do. They believe you should be cautious and thoughtful, but not obsessive with planning and organizing.

You cannot take control of everything, all the time. You should be flexible and ready for changes; every Seagull person would tell you so.

These optimistic individuals have a lot of energy and their spirits are always high.

They are not prone to sadness and depression; when the times are hard, they fight on. They stand their ground, but they are not stubborn. They have good intuition and are capable of feeling and deciding when they have had enough.

Seagull people are not easily discouraged; they know if they should step back and take some time to gather their strength and move on.

These amazing people are easy to get along with; they have a piece of advice for everyone and many inspiring stories to tell.

They are modest and not demanding people, in terms of material goods. They are communicative and talkative and have a great sense of the importance of maintaining good relationships with other people. They are commonly involved with some sort of charity work or so.

Seagull people love to help others and they are very supportive of their dear ones. Seagull people never lose hope life could get better and they truly value what they have. Seagull people do not take life for granted.

That is probably the best lesson they have learned from their amazing spirit animal.

For Seagull people, every person has their value, everything has its place, and every situation has its time.

Life is what you make of it, so do not be afraid to live it. In addition, Seagull people are amongst the most clever and resourceful ones. They could make life out of nothing, because they have so much faith in life as it is.

They would never give up and they will gladly encourage others not to give up.

Seagull people might appear easy going and relaxed and they are; however, they do not lack responsibility and they are not thoughtless or reckless.

They are also very compassionate and would never ever hurt another person, except if they are deeply hurt or provoked for no proper reason.

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