Pacific Gull (with chicks)

Description:

The Pacific Gull is a very large black-backed gull with a massive yellow bill, broadly tipped with scarlet. The upper wings and wingtips are wholly black with a narrow white inner trailing edge, the tail is white with a broad black band near the end. The legs are yellow to orange-yellow. Juvenile Pacific Gulls are mottled dark brown with pale face and the bill is pink with a black tip. The immatures have dark brown wings, whitish mottled body and a black-tipped yellow bill.

Notes:

This is the the western form of Pacific Gull (race gergii) which has a red eye and an incomplete red tip to the bill. The Pacific Gull breeds in scattered single pairs or small, loose colonies on high points on headlands or islands. Two types of nests are built: one a scrape or depression in the ground, either unlined or lined with small stones or gravel, the other is a neatly constructed shallow bowl made of sticks, grass, seaweed or feathers. Both sexes build the nest with the female doing most of the incubation while the male forages for food and stands guard near the nest.