Seagulls

Seagulls are birds that began as a collectible species in the Grand Theft Auto IV episodes The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, later becoming fully controllable creatures in Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online, and they are expected to return once again in Grand Theft Auto VI. Across the 3D Universe titles, aside from Grand Theft Auto III, seagulls appeared as animated sprites around beach areas and became a favorite sniping target, with kills against them tracked separately in the Stats menu once a player downed their first one. Their long run through the series positions them as one of its most persistent background bird species.

No trailer moment, screenshot, promotional image, or named GTA VI location is identified for seagulls. Their GTA VI return is described only as expected, rather than confirmed by a specific appearance or gameplay feature.

The games identify the animal only as a seagull. No particular gull species, real-world model, visual reference, or anatomical basis is named, so it cannot be tied more precisely to a species such as a herring gull or laughing gull.

In the 3D-era games, seagulls were rendered as animated sprite effects rather than later fully interactive birds. They appeared throughout that group of titles except Grand Theft Auto III and one additional title left unnamed in the available record. A distant Sniper Rifle shot could break one apart into separate pieces.

Vice City gave this activity a limited recognition through the original PlayStation 4 release: killing gulls contributed to the bronze “Chicken of the Sea” trophy. Apart from that trophy, shooting them did not provide a reward. San Andreas also used gull sounds around harbour locations, including Bayside Marina, rather than establishing them as a major collectible activity.

Grand Theft Auto IV restricted visible gulls to the early morning at Liberty Ferry Terminal. Their calls nevertheless extended the coastal soundscape beyond that location, being audible near water and beaches, including Firefly Island.

The IV episodes changed their role substantially. The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony each contained fifty gull targets. Eliminating every bird in either episode awarded a special vehicle, making them comparable to Grand Theft Auto IV’s Flying Rats rather than merely incidental wildlife. The community located all fifty targets in The Lost and Damned within five days of that episode’s release, before official location information appeared.

Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online treated seagulls as ordinary coastal birds instead of required targets. They flew around shoreline areas such as Vespucci Beach, sometimes settling on the ground or built structures. Approaching one caused it to take flight.

Aircraft interactions had an unusual limitation in Grand Theft Auto V. A gull already airborne could not be killed by a helicopter rotor or aeroplane propeller, although the same blades could kill it while it was lifting off. Contact with the aircraft’s main body could still kill the bird.

Enhanced editions of Grand Theft Auto V allowed a Peyote Plant hallucination to place the player in control of a randomly selected bird, with the seagull among the possible forms. GTA Online later received Peyote Plants during the continuing Diamond Casino & Resort update, where consuming one also had a chance to produce a seagull transformation.