American Herring Gull

Description:

This one was the only one this large in the flock as seen in the photo, it was with Ring-Billed Gulls which were smaller. The American Herring Gull or Smithsonian Gull (Larus smithsonianus) is a large gull which breeds in North America. It is a large gull with a long powerful bill, full chest and sloping forehead. Males are 60–66 cm long and weigh 1050–1250 grams. Females are 56–62 cm long and weigh 800–980 grams. The wingspan is 120–150 cm. Breeding adults have a white head, rump, tail and underparts and a pale gray back and upperwings. The wingtips are black with white spots known as "mirrors" and the rear edge of the wing is white. The underwing is grayish with dark tips to the outer primary feathers. The legs and feet are normally pink but can have a bluish tinge, or occasionally be yellow. The bill is yellow with a red spot on the lower mandible. The eye is bright, pale to medium yellow, with a bare yellow or orange ring around it. In winter, the head and neck are streaked with brown. First-cycle bird in Texas Young birds take four years to reach fully adult plumage. During this time they go through several plumage stages and can be very variable in appearance. First-winter birds are gray-brown with a dark tail, a brown rump with dark bars, dark outer primaries and pale inner primaries, dark eyes and a dark bill which usually develops a paler base through the winter. The head is often paler than the body. Second-winter birds typically have a pale eye, pale bill with black tip, pale head and begin to show gray feathers on the back. Third-winter birds are closer to adults but still have some black on the bill and brown on the body and wings and have a black band on the tail. It has a varied diet including marine invertebrates such as mussels, crabs, sea urchins and squid, fish such as capelin, alewife and smelt, insects and other birds including their chicks and eggs. It often feeds on carrion and human refuse. Food is plucked from the surface of the shore or sea or is caught by dipping underwater or by shallow plunge-diving.

Habitat:

Occurs in a variety of habitats including coasts, lakes, rivers and garbage dumps, this was at a Park.

Notes:

The species became quite rare during the 19th century when it was hunted for its eggs and feathers. From the 1930s to 1960s, it increased rapidly due to protection from hunting, increased waste from fisheries to feed on and less competition for small fish and invertebrates as humans reduced the populations of large fish, whales and pinnipeds. Numbers leveled off during the 1970s and 80s and may now be declining in some areas