GULLS and Allies of Africa
Gulls, terns, skimmers, skuas, puffins, and their allies belong to the order Charadriiformes and suborder Lari. In general they take food from the sea. Charadriiformes also contains the sandpipers, plovers and their allies. They are in suborder Charadrii and often feed along the shoreline. It is a matter of debate whether the coursers and pratincoles belong with the gulls or with the sandpipers.
Gulls
Order Charadriiformes Suborder Lari Family Laridae
Gulls are most closely related to the terns . 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. Gull species range in size from 29-76 cm. 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. large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. Gulls are resourceful, inquisitive and intelligent birds, demonstrating complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure. [abstracted from Wikipedia]
Genus Chroicocephalus
Gull, Grey-headed Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus Found: South America, Europe, Africa
Photographed by: 1) Nicolas Barcet 2) Gabriel Buissart - Delta du Sine Saloum SN
3) Cláudio Timm in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Gull, Hartlaub's Chroicocephalus hartlaubii Found: South Africa, Namibia
Photographed by: 1, 2) Dick Daniels - Cape Town, Soutn Africa 3) Dick - Hout, South Africa
Genus Larus
Gull, Yellow-legged Larus michahellis Found: Europe, Africa
Photographed by: 1) Jorg Hempel - Thasos, Greece 2) Julio Reis - Porto, Portugal 3) Alvesgasper
Gull, Kelp aka Southern Black-backed Gull Larus dominicanus Found: The Americas, Africa, Australia, New Zealand
Southern equivalent to the Lesser Black-back
4) dFaulder - Isla Magdalena, Chile 6) Dario Sanches - Brazil
5) Juvenile
Gull, Cape Larus vetula Found: Africa
The Cape Gull is sometimes considered a subspecies of thehe Kelp Gull. In this case it would be classified as Larus dominicanus vetula.
Gull, Lesser Black-backed Larus fuscus Found: North America, Europe, Africa
Photographed by: 1) Dick Daniels - North Carolina 2, 3, 4, 5) Dick - Scotland
Juvenile has pink legs and all black bill.
Note the yellow legs compared to pink of the great black-backed gull.
Genus Leucophaeus
New World gulls. All have white crescents above and below the eyes.
Gull, Franklin's Leucophaeus pipixcan Found: The Americas, vagrant to Europe, Africa, Australia
Photographed by: 1) Aviceda - SE Queensland, Australia
All images on this website are protected by copyright (owned by the photographer).
Please contact Dick Daniels to determine whether specific photos can be copied.
Please contact Dick Daniels to determine whether specific photos can be copied.