Sea gull. Seagull - coastal bird

The sea gull is a bird of the gull family, which forms a separate species in it. It differs from all representatives of its family in that it has the largest dimensions.

These birds live in the North Atlantic to the south of Greenland and in the central part of Europe. They prefer a sedentary lifestyle. Some representatives of this species migrate in winter to areas with a warmer climate, but located near the coast of the ocean. There, on large reservoirs and lakes, sea gulls winter. The sea gull can survive the winter quite well, feeding on the garbage dumps of cities and towns located on the coast.

Appearance and lifespan

The sea gull has a body length of 70 to 79 cm. The weight of the bird is from 1.3 to 2 kg., The wingspan is approximately 170 cm. Some large individuals can weigh up to 2.5 kg.

The plumage of this species of gulls is white, the outer side of the wings is black. At the tip of a large yellow beak there is a red spot, the legs of the bird are pale pink. In older chicks, the plumage is brown with brown spots, which changes to white after four years. The flight speed of a sea gull reaches 110 km/h. This species of gulls has no natural enemies. Life expectancy in the wild is 22-25 years, in rare cases a bird can live up to 27 years.

Feeding the sea gull

We can say that the sea gull is omnivorous, although the basis of its diet is fish. An adult needs 500 grams of food per day. In addition to fish, the seagull feeds on small birds, rodents, and in general any animals that are smaller than it. The seagull, according to its predilections in hunting, is a bird of prey that attacks any living creature. Capturing the victim with its paws, the seagull kills it with a blow of a strong and powerful beak. Another method inherent in the sea gull is to raise the prey to a height and drop it onto stones, so that then, on the ground, tear it apart with a strong beak.

Sea gulls are robbers and do not disdain to take prey from other representatives of birds. They rob and destroy the nests of other birds - herring gulls, guillemots, ducks, terns. They can also eat insects, but their share in the total diet of these gulls is quite small. A lot of sea gulls flock to city dumps, where they arrange noisy bazaars. Sea gulls not only host garbage dumps, but also hunt rats, mice and there. Eating rodents, these birds benefit humans, however, they also cause harm, scattering and dragging garbage away from containers.

reproduction

During the breeding season, which lasts from April to July, the black-backed gull nests on the coastal slopes of the rocks. From twigs and grass, he arranges a nest for himself, which is 70-80 cm in diameter.

Listen to the voice of the sea gull

These birds prefer to nest in small groups, nesting at a considerable distance from each other. The clutch usually contains 2-3 large eggs, which are incubated by both parents for the entire incubation period, which lasts 27-29 days. Hatched chicks remain in the nest for about 50 days. Having got out of the nest, they begin to fly and reach puberty along with the change of children's plumage, that is, at the age of 4-5 years.

Enemies of the sea gull

In their natural habitat, adult sea gulls have no enemies. But the chicks of this bird are vulnerable. They are hunted by large birds -

From the family of gulls of the order Charadriiformes. Scientists have about 50 species of these birds. The exact number has not been established, since it is very large, but there are species (pink, relict, Chinese gull and some others) that need constant protection and protection because of the threat of their extinction.

Appearance

The sizes of these birds are very diverse. The smallest species - the small gull - weighs about 100 grams, and the largest species - the sea gull - reaches a weight of 2 kg and a length of just under 80 cm. But for the most part, these birds are of medium size and the same type of appearance.

These are birds with hard, smooth plumage. They have a strong, sharp, slightly curved beak, designed specifically to ensure that the caught prey does not slip out of it. Paws are powerful, with membranes, thanks to which gulls swim well and stay on the water.

The feathers on the body are white, and only the wings, and in some species the head, are darker, gray or black. The only exception is the pink gull, whose plumage has a slightly pink hue.

habitats

Seagulls are ubiquitous. There are species that live in tropical latitudes, there are those that prefer a temperate climate, and some live beyond the Arctic Circle. Moreover, wherever these birds live, there should always be some kind of body of water nearby: the ocean, sea, river or lake.

Some of them migrate to warmer climes. Seagulls very easily adapt to new conditions, so many of them can live in villages, villages and cities next to a person.

Character and behavior

Seagulls never live alone because they are flocking birds living in large colonies that can number several thousand individuals. By nature, they are very noisy, absurd and aggressive birds, it happens that they steal prey from other birds or eat their eggs.

The traditional food of seagulls is a, molluscs, s, etc. These birds can circle over water for a long time and look for food, and then abruptly grab prey that has approached the surface of the water at an unsafe distance.

They very often fly next to whales, dolphins, sharks in the hope that they will get a tasty morsel of food. On the shore they eat starfish, crabs, do not disdain cadaverous meat. These birds can prey on insects, mice and other small rodents.

The common or black-headed gull is the most common of all European gulls. She received her Latin name "laughter" for her characteristic sharp cries, similar to hoarse laughter.
Habitat. Distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. Breeds in Europe, Asia and eastern North America. It winters near the eastern, southern and western coasts of Eurasia, as well as on the northern coasts of Africa and in the western part of the Atlantic.

Species: Common, or black-headed gull - Larus ridibundus.
Family: Gulls.
Order: Rzhankovye.
Class: Birds.
Subtype: Vertebrates.

Habitat.
The black-headed gull is native to the Northern Hemisphere. Its nesting range extends throughout Eurasia from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, and wintering grounds lie in Africa, South and East Asia, East and West Atlantic and on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Recently, black-headed gulls have begun nesting on the eastern shores of North America. Well adapted to different natural conditions, they willingly settle along the shores of the seas and inland waters, on peat and saline bogs, coastal islands, floodplains and among sand dunes. Gull colonies often appear in the neighborhood of arable land, gravel quarries and pond farms.

Security.
For a long time, seagulls were thoughtlessly exterminated. Hunters shot at them for fun or exercise in accuracy, destroying thousands of birds, and the peasants considered gulls to be malicious pests of crops. At present, thanks to decisive conservation measures, the population of all gulls, including black-headed gulls, has increased significantly, and today it is a completely prosperous, prosperous species, the range of which has noticeably expanded in the past century.

Did you know?

• In search of food, the black-headed gull sometimes flies up to 15 km from the roosting place and patrols an area of ​​800 sq. km.
• During the nesting period, insects form the basis of the diet of black-headed gulls: beetles, flies, grasshoppers and dragonflies, as well as other invertebrates, including spiders and centipedes.
• One gull eats 70-225 g of food per day. In the first week of life, the chicks receive 22 g of food daily, in the second 50 g, and in the next - from 80 to 150 g.
• The black-headed gull often takes food not only from its relatives, but also from birds of other species. Having flown into the prey, the gull beats it with its beak and makes it drop or burp the swallowed prey. The victims of such robberies are often tern chicks, which as a result die of starvation. During the day, the black-headed gull is able to take away about 160 earthworms from one lapwing.
• In nesting colonies of gulls, nests are located at a distance of 50-75 cm from each other. Each nest is surrounded by a "forbidden zone" where outsiders are not allowed to go. Distinguished by an absurd and aggressive disposition, gulls fiercely defend their territory from their neighbors.
• Seagulls nesting in places rich in food - for example, in the neighborhood of city dumps - do not fly away to warmer climes for the winter.

Reproduction.
Having taken off at the end of February on a long journey to their native nesting places, the gulls get home no later than the end of March. Having circled over familiar places, the birds gather in huge flocks in the marshy meadows and shallows located nearby, where “bridesmaids” take place, and each is looking for a mate. Thousands of nesting colonies, as a rule, are located near the water itself. Violent fights break out between males for the best nest site; having captured the site, the gentleman leads the female to it. For several days, the couple busily build a nest of twigs lined with soft blades of grass from the inside, and from time to time they perform ritual mating dances in front of each other. Before mating, the husband will certainly feed his partner. The black-headed gull clutch contains from 1 to 4 eggs, and both parents take turns incubating it. Hatched chicks are covered with variegated grayish-brown fluff. Already after 12-16 hours they can stand, and in case of danger jump out of the nest and hide in the grass. After 10 days, they leave the nest, but still remain under parental care. At a month old, young gulls take to the wing and move on to their bread, but for a long time they are not separated from their parents. Black-headed gulls reach sexual maturity at the age of three.

Lifestyle.
Black-headed gulls live in noisy breeding colonies, sometimes numbering many thousands of birds. Up to 100,000 gulls can nest in a fairly spacious area. Each colony is a quarrelsome community of close-knit family groups made up of married couples and their offspring. From morning to evening, seagulls alone or in flocks get food. Their varied diet includes earthworms, insects, crustaceans, mollusks, small fish, frogs, fruits and berries, young leaves and grass. Huge flocks of gulls often feed in landfills, where there is always plenty of food waste, or accompany fishing boats in the hope of profiting from the offal remaining after cutting fish. Looking out for prey, the gull flies low over water or land with its head down, and its widely spread wings and tail allow it to deftly maneuver in the air. Noticing a tidbit, the bird immediately dives and picks it up on the fly. In this way, seagulls prey on insects and pluck fruits from branches. Attempts to rob a careless relative are often accompanied by violent fights, when sharp beaks and wings are used. On the slope of the day, the whole flock together leaves the feeding places and flies away for the night to a place sheltered from the wind and inaccessible to predators.

Common, or black-headed gull -Larus ridibundus.
Length: 37-42 cm.
Wingspan: 95-105 cm.
Weight: male - 235-400 g, female - 190-280 g.
Number of eggs in clutch: 1-4.
Incubation period: 23-26 days.
Sexual maturity: 3 years.
Food: small fauna, plants, garbage.
Life span: approx. 30 years.

Structure.
White rims. White rims around the eyes are present only in adults.
Head. In the mating season, the plumage on the head acquires a dark brown color.
Beak. A strong and long beak is painted in bright red.
Coloring. The back is gray-silver; coccyx, tail and abdomen are white; wingtips are black.
Legs. The three forward-facing toes of the red feet are connected by swimming membranes.
Wings. Long and narrow wings are pointed at the ends.
Flight feathers of the first order. The black flight feathers of the first order are very elongated and have an asymmetrical shape.

related species.
The gull family includes marine, oceanic and freshwater terns and true gulls. All members of the family are endowed with long wings and fly beautifully. Terns, which, according to some taxonomists, form a separate family, dive well. Real gulls, represented by 82 species, are good swimmers, but they cannot dive. Both nest in numerous colonies. The Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) lives in the Northern Hemisphere, mainly on the Scandinavian Peninsula. Its wingspan reaches 140 cm. The sea gull (Larus marinus) inhabits the Atlantic coast of North America and Greenland, Svalbard, Scandinavia, Novaya Zemlya and Brittany. The wingspan of this bird - the largest of all gulls - reaches 165 cm.

The Herring Gull is a large bird belonging to the Gull family that lives in the Northern Hemisphere.

These birds give preference to the cold region - Scandinavia, Iceland, Great Britain and the islands of the Arctic Ocean from Chukotka to Taimyr.

In America, silver chaska breeds in Canada, Alaska, and the east coast of the United States. In addition, these birds are found on the Atlantic coast of France, and in winter they fly to South China, Japan, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.

Herring gulls live near water bodies, whether it is the ocean or lakes. These birds are found on the gently sloping and rocky banks of rivers, they also live in swamps. Favorite places are rocky shores, because there are no predators. Today, herring gulls also live in large cities, they actively build nests on the roofs of skyscrapers. The nature of these birds is quite aggressive, they do not give themselves offense.

The appearance of a seagull

The body length of representatives of the species varies between 55-65 centimeters. Females are smaller than males by about 5 centimeters.

Herring gulls weigh about 800-1300 grams. Males are heavier than females by an average of 200 grams. The wingspan varies from 130 to 150 centimeters.

The plumage of males and females is the same. The back is pale grey, while the neck, torso and head are white. The wings are light grey. The tips of the primary wings are black, diluted with white spots. The beak is compressed on the sides, and its end is bent down. The color of the beak is yellow, there is a clear red spot on the mandible.

Listen to the voice of the herring gull

There are no feathers around the eyes, the skin in these places is yellow. The iris of the eyes is grey. The legs are pink, with time their color does not change. Birds living in Scandinavia have yellowish legs. In winter, herring gulls develop dark streaks on their neck and head.

Young individuals acquire light plumage only by the 4th year of life. Prior to this, their plumage is variegated, it is dominated by brown and gray colors. In the 2nd year of life, the feathers lighten significantly, by the 3rd year the upper body and head turn white. In young animals, the beak and iris of the eyes are brown, the eyes become gray in the 4th year of life.

Seagull food

Herring Gulls are omnivores. They often gather in flocks near ships and garbage dumps. On the ground they hunt lizards, small rodents, larvae and insects. They destroy the nests of other birds, eating their eggs and chicks. From plant foods, preference is given to nuts, grains, fruits, berries and tubers. They love sea worms and crustaceans.

Herring gulls catch fish near the water surface, while they immerse their upper body in the water and look for prey. Seagulls even know how to dive, but not more than 1 meter. In weaker birds, these birds take prey.

Often they look out for prey, circling above the water. If the prey has a protective shell, then the bird rises into the air, throws it on the stones and, thus, breaks it. Fish is not the basis of the diet of herring gulls, but during nesting, these birds try to catch as many fish as possible, since the chicks feed on it.

Reproduction and lifespan

Herring gulls are highly organized birds; a peculiar hierarchy with a complex structure of relationships is maintained in the flock. Males are considered leaders, and females must obey them. But when it comes to choosing a nest site, females dominate. Herring Gulls form monogamous pairs, which tend to last for life.

Birds fly to nesting places when the ice begins to melt. In the northern regions, this occurs not earlier than April-May. During the nesting period, herring gulls form large colonies. Nests are built on the banks of cliffs, on rocks, and sometimes in thickets of vegetation. The distance between nests is 3-5 meters. Nests are built by females together with males. Natural materials are used for their construction: tree branches, moss and grass. The inside of the nest is insulated with feathers.

The female incubates 2-4 eggs, most often there are 3 of them in the clutch. Both parents participate in the process of incubation of eggs, replacing each other. The incubation period is 4 weeks. The body of newborn chicks is covered with gray fluff with dark spots. On the 2nd day of life, they begin to get up, and after 1.5 months they begin to fly. But for another month they stay with their parents, who feed them in turn.

During feeding, the chick knocks with its beak on the red spot located above the parent's beak, and the parent regurgitates food. Puberty in herring gulls occurs at 5 years. Life expectancy in the wild is on average 45-50 years.

Relationship with a person

Herring gulls are not afraid of people. They actively settle in megacities on the roofs of houses. If a seagull believes that a person wants to harm offspring, she attacks him. Sometimes these impudent birds snatch food from people on the street, right out of their hands.

The most famous among seabirds, gulls belong to the family of the same name in the order Charadriiformes. Thus, they are distant relatives of shorebirds, and the closest in systematic relation to them are skuas, terns, and water cutters. There are about 60 species of these birds in the world.

Black-headed, or common river gull (Larus ridibundus, or Chroicocephalus ridibundus).

Most gulls are medium-sized birds. The smallest species is called the small gull, the weight of this bird is 100 g, and the size does not exceed the size of a dove. The world's largest sea gull weighs 2 kg, its body length reaches 80 cm.

The appearance of all types of gulls is the same. These are dense birds with smooth plumage, wings and tail of medium length. All these features make them excellent fliers. Indeed, seagulls are able to spend a lot of time in the air, to make sharp maneuvers on the fly. The beak of gulls is adapted to hold slippery prey: in some species it is thin, evenly pointed, in others it is more massive with a sharp hook at the end. The paws of all species are webbed, indicating the ability to swim. At the same time, seagulls do not have the clumsiness of a duck; they move on land with confident, wide steps, and, if necessary, can run.

The Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) is one of the most widespread species of these birds.

The plumage of these birds contains white and black colors in different proportions. The most common type of coloration is “light body - black (gray) wings”, often a dark head is also added to them. Less common are uniformly colored species (white, polar, gray, dark gulls). A special exception is the pink gull, its plumage has an indescribable pale pink hue, which is inevitably distorted in all photographs. Paws and beak of seagulls can be black, red, yellow. There is no sexual dimorphism, but seasonal dimorphism is pronounced. In the spring, gulls molt and change their modest winter outfit for a brighter breeding one. In addition, young birds are strikingly different in color from adults, their plumage is brownish-variegated.

Young Great-billed Gull (Larus pacificus) in juvenile (children's) plumage.

The distribution of these birds is worldwide, there is no such continent and ocean where they do not live. Among the gulls there are purely tropical species, there are gravitating towards the temperate zone, and there are avid polar explorers. One thing is invariable - all types of gulls are necessarily associated with water bodies. But even here, each of them has its own tastes: some clearly prefer the ocean expanses and open coasts of the seas, while others willingly inhabit rivers and lakes. Seagulls can be found even in desert oases. The species that live on the coasts of the seas are usually sedentary, while those that live on the inland waters of the continents make seasonal flights.

The uniform coloration of the white gull (Pagophila eburnea) serves as a camouflage function, since this species lives in the region of eternal ice at the North Pole.

Gulls are flocking birds living in obligate or facultative colonies. Obligate colonies number thousands of individuals nesting literally right next to each other (bird colonies). From ten to hundreds of individuals nest in facultative colonies, nests in this case are located at a distance of several meters and even tens of meters from each other. In connection with such a pronounced sociality, the gulls have a very developed signaling system. The language of each species has several dozen different sounds, with the help of which birds report the presence of food, readiness for reproduction, danger, and even the appearance of an enemy. In general, the voices of these birds are very loud and shrill, well audible at a great distance.

People have formed a romantic image of a seagull, like a snow-white bird, peacefully soaring over the sea. In real life, this behavior can only be observed in the presence of readily available food. A flock of seagulls can also rally in the face of danger and jointly attack a predator (a fox, a crow, a person). This is where the friendliness ends. In all other cases, these birds will manifest themselves as daring, greedy and aggressive hunters. They can start a fight among themselves because of a tidbit, they can take away someone else's prey and even beat someone else's chick to death.

Black-headed gulls have attacked the puffin (Fratercula arctica) and robbed it of its catch.

Initially, the main prey of gulls was fish, squid and the remains of the prey of large marine predators. In search of this food, seagulls fly out into the open sea or ocean and circle for a long time, tracking suspicious activity on the surface of the water from a height. Their involuntary assistants are whales, dolphins and predatory fish (tuna, marlin, sharks) chasing schools of fish or krill in the depths of the sea. Small fish, in an attempt to escape, rise to the surface of the water, where gulls greedily pounce on it.

Seagulls fearlessly snatch small fish right from the mouth of a hunting whale.

These birds can grab prey from the surface and even partially submerge in water, but they do not know how to dive deep.

Due to the special structure of the bones, the beak of gulls can open disproportionately wide. This feature is an adaptation for swallowing prey from the water, where it cannot be cut into pieces.

In addition, seagulls do not disdain hunting on the shore. Here they eat the corpses of seals and fur seals, catch crabs, starfish, shellfish, steal chicks and eggs of other birds. In the steppes and tundra, seagulls readily catch insects, mice, voles, and peck at wild berries.

This seagull has learned to snatch ice cream right from the hands of absent-minded passers-by.

At present, the food resources of many species have expanded significantly due to proximity to humans. Settling in the vicinity of beaches, ports and city dumps, these birds have adapted to eat any food waste.

The breeding season for all species of gulls occurs once a year. These birds are monogamous and remain faithful to their partner all their lives, but in the event of his death, they acquire a new one without any problems. The mating ritual is accompanied by a complex body language: head nods, plumage fluffing on the stomach, meowing cries are used. The male also gives the female a symbolic gift (small fish) that cements their union. In different climatic zones, nesting begins in April-June. Nests can be located both on a flat surface (on sand, in grass) and on narrow ledges. Seagulls nesting in the tundra and on ledges line the nest with a poor litter of grass, dry algae, and reeds. Birds nesting on the beaches often do without bedding or replace it with fragments of shells, wood chips.

Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla) nests on a ledge.

There are 1-3 motley eggs in the clutch, which the female incubates for 20-30 days (the male brings her food).

Clutch of the sea gull (Larus marinus).

The chicks hatch at intervals of 1-2 days. They belong to the semi-brood type, that is, they are born developed, sighted and covered with down, but incapable of independent movement. In the nest, the chicks sit for 2-6 days, after which they can independently move around the colony. With a lack of food, parents give preference to the older chick, and the younger ones often die. In case of danger, the chicks hide, fortunately, the fluff perfectly camouflages them against the background of sand and small pebbles. Young birds reach puberty in 1-3 years, and seagulls live in nature up to 15-20 years (the absolute record belongs to the herring gull, which lived 49 years!).

Enemies of seagulls are large birds of prey (kites, falcons) and land predators (foxes, arctic foxes, bears).

Pacific gull (Larus schistisagus) with food at the nest. The spot on the bird's beak serves as an identification mark for the chicks, with the help of which they unmistakably distinguish their mother from gulls of other species living in the neighborhood.

For many centuries, people and seagulls coexisted peacefully with each other, but due to the reduction of world fish resources in recent years, there has been a tendency to consider these birds as harmful. Seagulls are accused of undermining fish stocks and offer to destroy them. It is clear that such a position is not true and only indicates that a person, overwhelmed by a thirst for enrichment, is ready to eliminate any neighbors on the planet from his path. In fact, many gulls nesting in inland waters are of significant benefit, as they destroy large numbers of locusts and harmful rodents. But even those who fish in the sea eat only weed fish. In the urban environment, gulls act as orderlies, eating animal waste. Some species with narrow ranges are endangered (relict, pink, red-footed, Chinese gulls, black-headed gulls) and need careful protection.

The Galapagos gull (Creagrus furcatus) is not only a narrow narrow endemic of the Galapagos Islands, but also has a specific way of life - these birds prefer to hunt at night.