A 9-year-old boy named Cooper from Derbyshire, England, took home top honors at the recent EC Gull Screeching Competition in DePanne, Belgium.
Cooper took on the nickname Seagull Boy after getting bitten by one of the scavenging birds, according to the BBC. The moniker is a nod to Spider-Man, who gained his superpowers after being bitten by a radioactive spider.
Cooper eventually became fascinated with the bird’s distinctive call; while he understands they can “be a bit scary” at times, he says they’re “really nice” animals.
Jan Seys, a marine biologist and one of the judges, thinks Cooper was not only the best of the competition’s young participants, but of all the competitors. She tells the BBC, “He managed to include several call types in his performance and each of them resembled a real seagull call in a most impressive way.”