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Ring-billed Gull

Larus delawarensis

Description:

Gull species range in size from the little gull, at 120 g and 11.5 inches, to the great black-backed gull, at 3.8 lbs and 30 inches. They are generally uniform in shape, with heavy bodies, long wings, moderately long necks . The tails of all but three species are rounded; the exceptions being the Sabine's gull and swallow-tailed gulls, which have forked tails, and the Ross's gull, which has a wedge-shaped tail.are seabirds of the family Laridae in the sub-order Lari. They are most closely related to the terns (family Sternidae) and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders. Until the twenty-first century most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for gulls is mew, cognate with German "Mowe", Danish "mage", Dutch "meeuw" and French "mouette"; this term 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. They typically have harsh wailing or squawking calls, stout, longish bills, and webbed feet. Most gulls, particularly Larus species, are ground-nesting carnivores, which will take live food or scavenge opportunistically. Live food often includes crabs and small fish. Gulls have unhinging jaws which allow them to consume large prey. Apart from the kittiwakes, gulls are typically coastal or inland species, rarely venturing far out to sea.

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, breeds in the interior of dry deserts far from water. There is considerable variety in the family and species may breed and feed in marine, freshwater or terrestrial habitats. Most gull species are migratory, with birds moving to warmer habitats during the winter, but the extent to which they migrate varies by species. Some species migrate long distances, like the Franklin's gull, which migrates from Canada to wintering grounds in the south of South America. Other species move much shorter distances and may simply disperse along the coasts near their breeding sites.

Notes:

Food and Diet: Gulls are highly adaptable feeders that opportunistically take a wide range of prey. The food taken by gulls includes fish and marine and freshwater invertebrates, both alive and already dead, terrestrial arthropods and invertebrates such as insects and earthworms, rodents, eggs, carrion, offal, reptiles, amphibians, plant items such as seeds and fruit, human refuse, chips, and even other birds.

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Thomas Nelson Community College
Spotted by a stud ent at Thomas Nelson Community College

Virginia, USA

Spotted on Feb 20, 2015
Submitted on May 3, 2015

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Reference

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