How do you attach the little head on top of a seagull hat so it stays upright?

The flop usually comes down to two things: the sphere is too heavy for a single stitched-on join, and there's nothing internal keeping the head lined up. I ran into this on a duck hat I made for my nephew and fixed it with a bit of wire inside the head. A short piece of craft wire or even a trimmed pipe cleaner, bent into the sphere before you seam it shut, gives the stuffing somthing to sit against so the head holds its angle. Just coil the sharp end of the wire around itself or cover it with tape so nothing pokes through.

The other trick is changing how you attach it. Instead of sewing around the bottom edge of the sphere, thread your yarn tail through the head, push the needle down through the crown of the hat, and come out somewhere inside the bonnet. Do that a few times so you're anchoring deep into the hat, not just to the surface stitches. Surface stitches on a knitted crown are basically loose loops, and that's exactly why your bird is tipping over. Anchoring through to the inside gives the join real grip. Also check where you're placing it. If the head sits slightly back from the peak of the crown, it leans into the beak's weight instead of against it. Mine kept face-planting forward untill I moved it a few rows back and angled the beak slightly up. And if you don't want to fiddle with wire at all, you can flatten the bottom of the sphere a bit when stuffing it, almost like a little disc base, and whipstitch that flat area to the crown with a longer seam. More contact area means less wobble. Between the wire and the deeper anchor, my bird hasn't moved since.

I made a frog hat last winter and the eyes did the exact same tipping thing. What worked for me was sewing a little circle of felt inside the hat first, then stitching the head to that felt circle instead of straight to the knit part. Felt doesn't stretch so the stitches stay put. Do you think something like that would work for a bird head too, or is it too heavy for that?

Total lurker here so sorry if this is obvious, but I crochet mostly and had a similar issue with a bunny hat where the ears drooped. What saved mine was anchoring in three spots instead of just the base - I caught a stitch partway up the back of the head too, so it kind of slings back against the crown. Also, don't overstuff right at the bottom of the sphere, keep the stuffing firmed up toward the middle and top. Is the beak sewn on before or after you attach the head? I wonder if stitching the beak on first would let you use it as a little handle to position things while you seam.

Another thing that saved my owl hat was a tension thread. I ran a long strand from the tip of the beak, down through the crown, and tied it off to a spot on the inside brim. Pulls the whole head back into the right angle and you can adjust it before you tie it off for good. Hidden completly once it's done. Also agree with whoever said don't overstuff near the base, I packed mine too firm the first time and it acted like a lever. Light stuffing low, firm up top near where the yarn anchors.

Another option if you're still in the early stages: skip the sphere entirely and knit the head as a little cone or cylinder instead. I did that for a chick hat once and it made a huge difference, the flat shape sits on the crown way more stable than a round ball does. Less stuffing needed too so it's lighter overall. Might be worth a redo if the seagull's still fighting you after trying the other fixes.