Herring Gull: Description, Reproduction and Interesting Facts

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:40

The Herring Gull is considered one of the most numerous and recognizable representatives of the Charadriiformes order. Its habitat is so wide that most ornithologists are confident in the existence of not one, but several closely related species at once.

Distribution area

The herring gull tends to cold regions. It inhabits the Northern Hemisphere. During the winter months, these birds move to Florida, southern China, Japan, and the Gulf Coast. For nesting, they have chosen Great Britain, Scandinavia and Iceland. They can also be seen on the islands of the Arctic Ocean, in Canada, in Alaska and on the eastern shores of the United States.

Since the herring gull is highly dependent on aquatic food, it settles in coastal areas. She lives in mountains, cliffs, rocks, and sometimes in swampy areas. This bird has perfectly adapted to coexistence with people, so it often settles on the roofs of houses.

Short description

The Herring Gull is a large bird. Adult weightindividuals can reach one and a half kilograms. The average body length is about 55-65 centimeters. The head, neck and body of the bird are covered with white plumage. The wings and back are light gray in color. On the head of the seagull is a beak compressed on the sides and bent at the end. It is yellow itself, but a red spot is clearly visible under it.

Around the eyes, the iris of which is painted in a gray tint, there are narrow rings of yellow skin. Interestingly, the silver gull acquires light plumage only in the fourth year of life. Until this moment, the young growth has a variegated color, in which brown and gray tones predominate. Feathers begin to lighten after the bird reaches two years of age. The head and iris of juveniles are brown.

Features of reproduction and lifespan

In the wild, the European herring gull lives an average of 50 years. It is considered a highly organized bird. Complex relationships between representatives of this species are based on a kind of hierarchy. The dominant position is occupied by males. The weaker sex dominates only in matters relating to the choice of a place for arranging a future nest.

These birds are monogamous. Except in rare cases, they create a couple of times and for life. Individuals that have reached the age of five are considered sexually mature. They begin to fly to the nesting site in April-May, immediately after the water is free from ice.

For the nesting period, these birds create entire colonies. The herring gull (larus argentatus) builds nests lined with feathers or wool on cliffs, rocky shores and in dense vegetation. Both the female and the male take part in the construction. At the same time, they use grass, tree branches, moss and dry algae as a building material. The distance between neighboring nests is about five meters.

As a rule, the female lays 2-4 greenish-brown or olive-colored eggs with large dark spots, incubated by both parents. Moreover, during the change of partners sitting in the nest, the birds very carefully and carefully turn the eggs over.

At the end of the four-week incubation period, chicks are born. Their small bodies are covered with gray fluff with distinct dark spots. After two days, the babies can already stand up on their own. After a couple of days, they begin to leave the parental nest without moving a considerable distance. In the event of a threat, the chicks hide, becoming almost indistinguishable from the surrounding background. They begin to fly not earlier than they are one and a half months old. Parents alternately feed their offspring by regurgitating food for them. The basis of the diet of growing babies is fish.

What do these birds eat?

It should be noted that the herring gull is omnivorous. It can often be seen near ships and garbage dumps. Sometimes she even steals the eggs and young of other birds.

Representatives of this species catchlarvae, insects, lizards and small rodents. They can also eat berries, fruits, nuts, tubers and grains. They do not disdain to take prey from smaller and weaker relatives. They also catch marine worms, crustaceans and fish.

Features of coexistence with a person

Let's note right away that the herring gull is not accustomed to stand on ceremony with people. This bird actively populates modern megacities and equips nests on the roofs of multi-storey buildings. Often she attacks those who are trying to harm their offspring. There are also many cases when insolent birds took food from the hands of passers-by right on the street.

However, over the past two decades, there has been a tendency to reduce the number of representatives of this species. In Europe, gull populations have shrunk by almost half. Scientists attribute this to the influence of environmental factors and the depletion of fish stocks in coastal regions.

Activity, social behavior and vocalization

Despite this, herring gulls are diurnal, in certain situations they are active around the clock. This is especially true for birds inhabiting high latitudes during the polar day.

Representatives of this species are capable of making a wide range of characteristic sounds. They can cluck, croak, howl and even meow. However, most often they can be heard laughing cries.

Gulls are colonial birds. Their communities cancount more than one hundred pairs. Sometimes smaller or mixed colonies are found. Each couple has their own carefully guarded plot. If one of them is attacked by an external enemy, then the entire colony unites to protect their relatives. However, in peacetime, neighboring couples may conflict with each other and even attack each other.

Relationships within a couple are not easy either. Especially during the mating season. At this time, the male performs ritual feeding of his partner. And the female sits near the nest and begins to squeak thinly, begging the male for food. After laying eggs, a gradual subsidence of the peculiar mating behavior is noted, and soon it disappears altogether.

Interesting facts

The herring gull, or northern klusha, adheres to a strict hierarchy. The leader is always the male, and it is he who makes the choice for the female, who dominates everything related to the construction of the nest. Almost all representatives of this family do not like to get food by their own labor, preferring to take it from others.