Wild Birds | Pet Birds | Dogs | Cats | Small Pets





The scavenger birds



of the ocean -



Gulls and Seagulls.

























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Gulls are long-winged, web-footed seabirds, the most familiar

birds of the seashore. Many species nest or feed inland, and

most of the rest are strictly coastal. Only the kittiwakes

are truly oceanic during the non breeding season.



Gulls are primarily scavengers, often gathering by the thousands at

garbage dumps and fish docks, or ships for their garbage.



Some gulls are migratory.



Gull sizes range from 11 to 31 inches.





Except for the totally white ivory gull, gulls vary from pale gray

to black above, and from white to gray below. The heads of many

have black, gray, or dark brown hoods during breeding season. Many

of the gray-winged species have black or darker gray wing tips,

often with white spots.



The genders are alike in color. The young have mottled brown or gray

plumage, taking as long as four years to attain the definitive adult

coloration through a progressive series of annual molts.





Gulls breed colonially, mostly on the flat ground of beaches,

marshes, or riverbeds, where they build simple, shallow, grass-lined nests.

Several species nest on ledges of cliffs, notably the kittiwakes.



The clutch consists of two or three greenish-brown, speckled eggs,

which take 20 to 30 days to incubate. At hatching the chicks have

down feathers, and the eyes are open. Chicks can stand but are

dependent on their parents for food and warmth. The parents

share in incubation of the eggs and in the brooding and feeding

of the chicks, which fledge between four and six weeks after hatching.



Gulls have been known to live as long as 40 years in captivity and

as long as 36 years in the wild



A seagull refers typically to any gull frequenting the sea.







Picture Seagulls









Gulls belong to the family Laridae in the order Charadriiformes



Types of North American Gulls Include:



Black Legged Kittiwake

Bonaparte's Gull

California Gull

Common Black Headed Gull

Franklin's Gull

Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Winged Gull

Great Black Backed Gull

Heermann's Gull

Herring Gull

Iceland Gull

Ivory Gull

Laughing Gull

Lesser Black Backed Gull

Little Gull

Mew Gull

Red Legged Kittiwake

Ring Billed Gull

Ross' Gull

Sabine's Gull

Slaty Backed Gull

Thayer's Gull

Western Gull



Index of North American Birds



North American Shorebirds

Jonathan Livingston Seagull







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Stuffed Plush Gulls & Birds



Colorful Gull Calendars















