What is the difference between seagull and gull?
Seagulls are found near the sea, whereas gulls can be found both near the sea and inland. Gulls are usually white with black wings, while seagulls are usually white or gray with black wings. Gulls are also generally smaller than gulls. The easiest way to identify a gull is by its size.
How do you identify a gull?
The most important basic keys to identifying gulls are size, shape, and color pattern. In fact, with practice, experts can identify nearly all gulls by size and shape alone. Get started by sorting gulls into three general sizes. Large gulls are monsters, with thick bills and broad wings.
What is the bird that looks like a seagull?
Herring Gulls are large gulls with hefty bills and robust bodies. In flight, they look barrel-chested and broad-winged compared to smaller species such as Ring-billed Gulls.
Are there different types of seagulls?
European herring gullBlack‑hea... gullCommon gullGreat black‑back... gullLaughing gullYellow‑leg... gullGull/Representative species
Is a seagull a duck?
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders.
Where do seagulls live?
Seagulls live near the coast -- any coast. Despite the seemingly ocean-exclusive name, these birds can be found near the sea and lakes alike, and they don't discriminate between saltwater and freshwater bodies.
What bird looks like a seagull but smaller?
Terns are small to medium birds, often smaller and slimmer than most of the gulls.
What bird looks like a seagull but has a black head?
A common gull of the Old World, Black-headed Gull is a rare, but regular visitor to eastern North America.
Can a seagull pick up a dog?
Ornithologist Peter Rock of the University of Bristol told the BBC that seagulls are, indeed, capable of picking up small animals such as a chihuahua. The largest gull species, the great black-backed gull, has a wingspan of up to 5 feet 3 inches and lives along coasts.
Where do seagulls live at night?
Seagulls during intense winter seasons look to forage in open fields, parking lots, dumpsters, and other accessible winter areas and eat almost everything they can find that is edible. At night in winter, seagulls sleep in covered areas, or on frozen lakes and bodies of bodies safe from predators.
How can you tell a female seagull?
It is difficult to tell the difference between a male and female seagull. The male tends to have brighter, more colourful plumage but the difference is so subtle, that only experienced bird watchers can tell the gender of a gull.
What eats a seagull?
What eats the seagull? Baby seagulls and the eggs are often preyed upon by raccoons, minks, foxes, cats, and birds of prey. Adult gulls are less in danger of being eaten, but they're sometimes preyed upon by particularly large and dangerous predators.
Do male and female seagulls look different?
Gender. It is difficult to tell the difference between a male and female seagull. The male tends to have brighter, more colourful plumage but the difference is so subtle, that only experienced bird watchers can tell the gender of a gull.
What is the difference between a seagull and a tern?
The gull has a hooked beak, while that of the tern is straight. The tern has short legs and webbed feet, but the gull has longer legs and its feet are not webbed. The tern has relatively straight and pointed wings, while the wings of the gull are broader and tend to have a dog-leg at the midpoint or to be rounded.
What's the difference between white and brown seagulls?
Measurements. Breeding adult California Gulls are white-headed gulls with a medium gray back, yellow legs, and a dark eye. Nonbreeding adults have brown streaking on the head. Adults have a yellow bill with small black ring and a red spot on the lower mandible—brighter on breeding gulls.
What is the most common seagull?
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis): The most common species of gull you'll find on the beach in the summer. This resilient species can also be found in parking lots, landfills and even farm fields.
What is the name of a gull?
An older name for gulls is mews, which is cognate with German Möwe, Danish måge, Swedish mås, Dutch meeuw, Norwegian måke / måse and French mouette, and can still be found in certain regional dialects. Gulls are typically medium to large birds, usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings.
What is the color of a gull's bill?
The bill colour is often yellow with a red spot for the larger white-headed species and red, dark red or black in the smaller species. The gulls are generalist feeders.
How do gulls lay eggs?
Gulls nest in large, densely packed, noisy colonies. They lay two or three speckled eggs in nests composed of vegetation. The young are precocial, born with dark mottled down and mobile upon hatching. Gulls are resourceful, inquisitive, and intelligent, the larger species in particular, demonstrating complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure. For example, many gull colonies display mobbing behavior, attacking and harassing predators and other intruders. Certain species have exhibited tool-use behavior, such as the herring gull, using pieces of bread as bait with which to catch goldfish, for example. Many species of gulls have learned to coexist successfully with humans and have thrived in human habitats. Others rely on kleptoparasitism to get their food. Gulls have been observed preying on live whales, landing on the whale as it surfaces to peck out pieces of flesh.
How do humans affect gulls?
Looking at the effect of humans on gull diet, overfishing of target prey such as sardines have caused a shift in diet and behavior. Analysis of yellow-legged gull's ( Larus michahellis) pellets off the northwest coast of Spain revealed a shift from a sardine to crustacean-based diet. This shift was linked to higher fishing efficiency and thus overall fish stock depletion. Lastly, closure of nearby open-air landfills limited food availability for the gulls, furthering creating a stress on their shift in diet. Between the years of 1974–1994, yellow-legged gull populations in Berlenga Island, Portugal, increased from 2600 to 44,698 individuals. Analyzing both adult and chick remains, researchers found a mixture of both natural prey and human refuse. The gulls relied substantially on the Henslow's swimming crab ( Polybius henslowii ). Yet, in times when local prey availability is low, the gulls shift to human-related food. These temporal shifts from a marine to terrestrial prey highlight the resilience adult gulls have and their ability to keep chick condition consistent. Human disturbance has also shown to have an effect on gull breeding, in which hatching failure is directly proportional to the amount of disturbance in a given plot.
What do gulls use to catch goldfish?
Certain species have exhibited tool-use behavior, such as the herring gull, using pieces of bread as bait with which to catch goldfish, for example. Many species of gulls have learned to coexist successfully with humans and have thrived in human habitats. Others rely on kleptoparasitism to get their food.
How long do gulls live?
The large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. Large white-headed gulls are typically long-lived birds, with a maximum age of 49 years recorded for the herring gull. Gulls nest in large, densely packed, noisy colonies.
What is a Pacific gull?
The Pacific gull is a large white-headed gull with a particularly heavy bill.
What does a Common Gull look like?
The common gull is a medium sized gull with a round head and small bill. Adult summer (breeding) plumage is predominantly grey above with white underparts. The body, head and tail is white and the mantle, the area immediately below the nape of the neck, is grey. The upper wing area is grey with the tips of the primary feathers coloured black. There is a large circular white spot partially superimposed over the black area. The trailing edge of the upper wings are marked with a narrow white stripe. Upper tail is white and the underwings are white tipped black. The short bill is a greenish yellow as are the legs and webbed feet. The iris is dark with a red orbital ring which is not apparent in winter plumage. Non breeding adults have grey brown markings over a white head extending to the top of the nape. Males and females are similar in appearance with the male being slightly larger than the female. Juvenile birds are mainly a grey brown colour with light brown upper wings and dark brown primaries. The upper tail is grey with a black band across the trailing edge. The bill is grey with a black tip and the legs vary from buff to pale pink.
How long do gulls live?
Average life expectancy for a common gull is up to ten years although examples of those surviving twice that period have been recorded.
How many species of gulls are there?
There are four sub-species of the common gull with the European variant being the nominate. The other three are the Russian, Kamchatka and American, which are all predominantly confined to the geographical region attributed by their name. There are subtle differences in plumage and overall size of bird between sub-species.
Where do gulls breed?
The breeding range of the common gull encompasses much of the higher latitudes of the northern hemisphere including Svalbard in the Arctic Ocean, Iceland, the United Kingdom and eastwards across northern Europe into Russia and across Siberia to the Kamchatka Peninsula. Breeding populations are also found in Turkey, Kazakhstan and Mongolia. In North America they breed across Alaska and eastwards into the Canadian provinces of Yukon, North West Territories, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. Eurasian breeding colonies that do migrate south for the winter head for the Baltic Sea, United Kingdom, North Africa, the western Mediterranean, Black Sea, Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Korea, southern China and Japan. North American colonies winter across the Pacific coast from Alaska south to Central California. Isolated pockets of common gulls can also be found inland within North America with Eurasian variants appearing on the Atlantic Coast of the U.S.
What do birds eat?
Feeding from water or on the ground the bird lives on a diet of molluscs, fish, worms, carrion and insects which is often supplemented by scraps scavenged from refuse tips.
What is a breeding adult gull?
Breeding adult (American) Large gull with a somewhat large, but slim bill and robust body. Breeding adults have clean white heads and underparts with pale gray backs and wings. Note pale legs and yellow eye. © Simon Boivin | Macaulay Library Quebec, July 19, 2019.
What is the second winter gull?
The second winter gull is heavily streaked throughout with a few gray back feathers coming in. Note dark primaries, lacking white tips. Some second winter birds have less streaking on their necks and look very pale overall, but note its pale eye and pink legs. Pairs often feed each other as part of courtship.
How long does it take for a harling gull to reach adult plumage?
Adults have light-gray backs, black wingtips, and white heads and underparts. In winter, dusky streaks mark their heads. Herring Gulls take four years to reach adult plumage. Juveniles are mottled brown; second-year birds are brown but show gray on the back. Third-years have more gray on the back and more white on the head and underparts. The legs are dull pink at all ages.
What does a third winter bird look like?
Third winter birds start to acquire pale gray feathers on their back, but still have extensive tan streaking on their head and neck. Note pale yellow eye. This more advanced third winter bird looks nearly like an adult, with its pale gray back, but it still has streaking on the neck and a black band around its bill.
What color is the neck of a nonbreeding squid?
Nonbreeding adults have extensive tan streaking on their neck. Note the pale gray upperparts and the pale eye.
What color are juveniles?
Juveniles are tan overall with tan-and-white checker boarding on their back. Juveniles have an entirely dark bill and a dark eye. In flight, they look barrel-chested and broad-winged. Pale gray above with dark wingtips with only small white spots (aka "mirrors") on the dark tips.
What does a squid look like in flight?
In flight, they look barrel-chested and broad-winged. Pale gray above with dark wingtips with only small white spots (aka "mirrors") on the dark tips.
What do juvenile seagulls look like?
Juvenile seagulls take some four years to reach maturity, at which point they’ll resemble a fully-grown gull with fully-developed plumage.
What does a baby seagull look like?
Their looks do depend on the species, as there are 54 species of gulls, but most seagull chicks are covered in a soft speckled or mottled brown down, which is thick and fluffy.
How big is a baby seagull?
It really depends on the species. The smallest species of gull, the Little gull, has an approximate body length of 30cm, a wingspan of around 61 to 78cm, and a mass of 68 to 162g.
What is a group of baby seagulls called?
In the early days, gull parents are extremely protective over their chicks and wouldn’t let them socialise in a group of baby seagulls. This continues until the bird fledges and joins a flock of seagulls, often with other juveniles.
How do seagulls feed their chicks?
Both seagull parents usually participate in feeding the chicks and feed them both soft scraps and regurgitated food. During the first week or two, the chicks will call near-constantly for their parents, who will return at various times of day to feed the chicks. Regurgitative feeding continues at least until the gull chick fledges the nest, typically after 5 to 6 weeks.
How long do seagull eggs take to hatch?
Gull eggs tend to hatch after around 30 to 32 days of incubation. In some species, like the Kittiwake, this might extend as low as 28 days.
How fast do seagull chicks grow?
Seagull chicks grow quickly, doubling in body weight after just a few days. They’re generally very active even after just a few days after being born and tend to roam the area around the nest, sometimes even wandering off a considerable distance.
How much does a swallow tailed gull weigh?
A swallow tailed gull weighs between 22 and 28 ounces (610 to 780 g).
What is a swallow tailed gull?
The swallow tailed gull is a medium- to large-sized gull with a long, forked tail and long, pointed wings. Their breeding biology really makes these gulls stand out from all the rest of the seagull species.
How many eggs do swallow tailed gulls lay?
A swallow tailed gull lays only one egg per breeding period. The egg is a buff color with brown specks.
What predators eat swallow tailed gulls?
The main predators of the swallow tailed gull are raptors such as the Galapagos hawk, which could eat the gull itself but usually eat the gull’s egg.
Why is the gull called Creagrus?
Because it’s hooked bill brought to mind a hook that butchers used for holding meat, the gull was given the name Creagrus, which is a Latin word meaning butcher or meat.
What does the rim of a bird's eye mean?
The eye ring (or rim) changes color to indicate when it is in the breeding season.
Is a swallow tailed gull nocturnal?
Did you know that the swallow tailed gull is the only nocturnal gull in the world? That’s not the only unique fact about this sea bird.
How long does it take for a gull to become white?
Gulls stay a mottled brown color for the first few years. They take up to 4 years to become the classic white and gray color.
What do gulls use to make their nest?
Gulls use twigs feathers, vegetation, plastic and rope to create the nest and lining.
What are baby seagulls called?
Baby seagulls would actually be called gull chicks and do not have a unique name like baby owls being called owlets.
What are the sounds that seagulls make?
Both the begging call and shrill cry are sounds that adult seagulls make.
How do baby seagulls learn to fly?
Baby seagulls learn to fly by being encouraged by their parents to follow, especially if they are hungry.
How long do seagulls stay in the nest?
Seagull chicks can leave the nest within 24 hours but they stay around the nest area for 40 days .
When do seagulls incubate eggs?
Seagulls incubate their eggs for around 30 days in May and June for the most common gull, the herring gull. Incubation may be less for smaller gulls.
What Are Gallstones?
Gallstones are pieces of solid material that form in your gallbladder, a small organ under your liver. If you have them, you might hear your doctor say you have cholelithiasis.
What is the most common gallstone?
Cholesterol stones. These are usually yellow-green. They're the most common, making up 80% of gallstones.
Can a gallbladder rupture?
Your gallbladder might burst, or rupture, if you don’t get treatment right away. Blocked bile ducts. This can cause fever, chills, and yellowing of your skin and eyes ( jaundice ). If a stone blocks the duct to your pancreas, that organ may become inflamed ( pancreatitis ). Infected bile ducts (acute cholangitis).
Can gallstones cause fever?
Gallstones can cause serious problems, including: Gallbladder inflammation (acute cholecystitis ). This happens when a stone blocks your gallbladder so it can’t empty. It causes constant pain and fever. Your gallbladder might burst, or rupture, if you don’t get treatment right away.
Overview
Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for g…
Description and morphology
Gulls range in size from the little gull, at 120 grams (4+1⁄4 ounces) and 29 centimetres (11+1⁄2 inches), to the great black-backed gull, at 1.75 kg (3 lb 14 oz) and 76 cm (30 in). They are generally uniform in shape, with heavy bodies, long wings, and moderately long necks. The tails of all but three species are rounded; the exceptions being Sabine's gull and swallow-tailed gulls, which hav…
Distribution and habitat
The gulls have a worldwide cosmopolitan distribution. They breed on every continent, including the margins of Antarctica, and are found in the high Arctic as well. They are less common on tropical islands, although a few species do live on islands such as the Galapagos and New Caledonia. Many species breed in coastal colonies, with a preference for islands, and one species, the grey gull, b…
Behaviour
Charadriiform birds drink salt water, as well as fresh water, as they possess exocrine glands located in supraorbital grooves of the skull by which salt can be excreted through the nostrils to assist the kidneys in maintaining electrolyte balance. Gulls are highly adaptable feeders that opportunistically take a wide range of prey. The food taken by gulls includes fish and marine and freshwate…
Taxonomy
The family Laridae was introduced (as Laridia) by the French polymath Constantine Samuel Rafinesque in 1815. The taxonomy of gulls is confused by their widespread distribution zones of hybridization leading to geneflow. Some have traditionally been considered ring species, but recent evidence suggests that this assumption is questionable. Until recently, most gulls were placed in t…
Evolutionary history
The Laridae are known from not-yet-published fossil evidence since the Early Oligocene, some 30–33 million years ago. Three gull-like species were described by Alphonse Milne-Edwards from the early Miocene of Saint-Gérand-le-Puy, France. A fossil gull from the Middle to Late Miocene of Cherry County, Nebraska, USA, is placed in the prehistoric genus Gaviota; apart from this and t…
Further reading
• Grant PJ (1986). Gulls: a guide to identification. ISBN 0-85661-044-5.
• Howell SN, Dunn J (2007). Gulls of the Americas. ISBN 978-0-618-72641-7.
External links
• Rudy's Gull-index Pictures of less well-known plumages of large gulls
• Gull videos on the Internet Bird Collection