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Today we have a selection of seagulls from biologist John Avise. His captions and text are indented.
Most birders frown upon use of the word “seagull” for two reasons: 1) there are many different species of gull; and 2) gulls sometimes can be found far from any ocean. Although gulls and terns are closely related (both are in the taxonomic family Laridae), they differ greatly in lifestyle. Terns actively catch fish by plunge-diving into the water, whereas gulls are indiscriminate scavengers that forage by picking up food items along shorelines (or other places such as parking lots and municipal dumps).
Gulls are also among the most challenging of birds to identify to species for several reasons: 1) plumages within a species may differ from year-to-year during the first several years of a bird’s life; 2) adult plumages typically differ between the breeding and non-breeding seasons; 3) many species are generally similar in body size, shape, and color; and 4) many gull species occasionally produce interspecific (between-species) hybrids. In an earlier WEIT post (see “one good tern deserves another”), I showed my photographs of several tern species in flight. Here I show several North American gull species in flight, mostly against blue sky or water backgrounds. Although gulls are generally more heavy-bodied and less agile than terns, they remain beautiful flyers. So, with this batch of photos I invite readers to “See Gulls in Flight”.
Bonaparte’s Gull (Larus philadelphia), winter plumage:
Bonaparte’s Gull (Larus philadelphia), first-winter bird:
California Gull (Larus californicus):
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens), first-winter bird:
Heermann’s Gull (Larus heermanni), adult:
Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla), adult:
Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla), juvenile:
Mew Gull (Larus canus):
Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis):
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis), adult:
Western Gull (Larus occidentalis), juvenile:
Beautiful BIFs, John! Thanks,
Beautiful photos. I know that it’s anthropomorphic, but some of the gulls’ “facial expressions” are priceless.
Nice pictures! I am very glad that we only have one species of gull away from the coast in Ecuador, the Andean Gull.
Very good photos. I’ve always found gulls to be very interesting, among the most aerodynamically perfected birds, that glide so effortlessly.
Gulls are cool birds and need more love. Great pics, thanks.
We’ve had an extra large number of gulls this fall, here on the Snake River. I think they are mostly ring billed gulls.
I love the deadpan expressions of the laughing gulls 🙂
These photos were excellent. I’m the typical person who thinks ‘all white seabirds are the same sea gulls’. I’ll have to be more observant. I wonder if Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” is a pun on sea gulls.
Bonaparte’s gull – it is not Larus anymore, but Chroicocephalus philadelphia
Oh & the Laughing gull is Leucophaeus atricilla. Gulls were recently revised taxonomically. The black headed gulls were removed from Larus. There’s a brilliant book in the New Naturalists series that gull lovers will want only I cannot recall the author.
Many thanks for the nomenclatural updates. It’s hard to keep up with taxonomic changes when they are so frequent!
The Gulls book is by John Coulson – it is a beautiful volume-
https://www.newnaturalists.com/products/gulls-9780008201432-2/
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It means all our bird books are out of date! So publishers are sure of new sales 🤓😉
Lovely photos as usual!
Oh, how i wish they all could be California Gulls…
Aw, c’mon, someone had to say it!
🙂
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