The seagull is one of the most common birds living near the sea. The range of this bird is scattered throughout the world, from the Arctic to the Antarctic, but the least of them are in tropical countries. Many people wonder where the seagull winters. The answer is quite simple: this bird adapts very easily to any habitat, so wintering is not at all scary for it.
The most interesting thing about seagulls
On the territory of Russia you can meet more than 20 species of birds that belong to the genus of gulls. Their range is quite wide: this includes the European part of the Russian Federation, most of the Far East and Siberia.
These birds are excellent flyers, able to stay in the air for a long time, then speeding up, then slowing down their flight, make a sharp stop, virtuoso turns, dive. In addition, they can quickly run, swim and even dive into the water.
Gulls nest on plains and rocks near water bodies. Some of them pair, but in most cases, gulls live in colonies. Such birds rarely change nesting sites, except perhaps due to changes in climatic conditions.
Twice a year seagulls molt. It happens in autumnperiod - full molt, and also after the end of winter - incomplete.
Wintering seagulls
Most of the seagulls spend the winter on the Black or Caspian Seas, some fly to the North Sea or the Mediterranean, as well as to African countries, Japan, China. Many can be seen in winter in populated cities, because there is an opportunity to get their own food. These birds are not afraid of people, often begging for bread crumbs, and also find food in garbage dumps outside the city.
Recently, gulls have become the main "scavengers" in the winter and serious competitors to crows living in places of industrial and consumer waste.
There are more and more seagulls in the industrial centers of Russia. They stay here to winter, easily adapting to urban areas, trying to adapt to living conditions changed by human influence.
Seagulls in Russian regions
Many are interested in where seagulls winter in Magadan. Gulls in this area have not changed their habitat for a long time, nesting on the roofs of high-rise buildings. And since these birds are inextricably linked with the sea, they can often be found on the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. Some representatives of these birds spend the whole winter in non-freezing places in the reservoirs of the Magadan Region.
Volga gulls staying for the winter keep in small flocks. There are a lot of places where Volga gulls winter. They use non-freezing sections of the downstream of hydroelectric power plants, runoff of thermal waterstations. In winter, the Volga Reservoir also attracts seagulls.
There are several species of gulls in the fauna of the Urals. Most often, birds of this order can be found in the tundra region. Where do seagulls winter in the Urals? Along the Ob River and partly along the Irtysh River, the most common populations are the black-headed gull, little and gray-gray, less often you can meet the common gull and terns (black, white-winged or small).
Migration of seagulls
Before the onset of frost, most seagulls migrate south. Most of all among gulls love to travel clovers. They fly from Siberia and northern Europe to India and African countries. Fork-tailed gulls are also tireless, flying for wintering from the tundra to the southern countries of Africa and America.
Winter these birds fly away with the onset of the first cold weather. There are many warm places where the seagull hibernates. However, most of the birds settle in the south-west of Eurasia and the Pacific islands.
An interesting fact is that not all species of these birds fly south. For example, the pink gull, whose habitat is Greenland and Siberia, migrates in the cold season to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. It is there that there are many places not covered with ice crust, where the gull hibernates, eating sea crustaceans and small fish.
The range of the common gull begins on the Kola Peninsula and reaches the western part of Chukotka, but from the south it reaches the Caspian Sea. Around November, this species of birds migrates to the Mediterranean, and some gray gulls manage to fly to the Persian (Arabian)Gulf, which is located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.
There are a lot of herring gulls in Russia, distinguished by their large size and huge yellow beak. This bird of prey nests on the Russian coast of the Arctic, in Siberia and in the northern part of the Caspian Sea. For wintering, the silver gull migrates to the sea coasts of the south. On the territory of Russia, this is most often the coast of the Black or Azov Seas, and outside the country - the Mediterranean.
A small gull with white plumage, which is called the white gull, either does not fly or travels short distances with the onset of cold weather (their maximum length does not exceed a thousand kilometers).
Gulls near Moscow
Such birds as seagulls are very different from other birds: they fly well, rising high into the sky, swim in the water, run fast, feed in the air, look for food on the ground and in the water. They are semiaquatic birds, but many nest on rooftops, including those in the Moscow region.
Most of all in Moscow are gray gulls. These large birds nest in places that are inaccessible to predators. Often these are quarry zones and lakes. The gray gull lives in the Lublin fields and in some other parts of the capital. And where seagulls winter in Moscow, it is on those sections of the city river that do not freeze in winter.
Such a population as the black-headed gull is found in almost all places of the city where there are water bodies. However, they nestthese birds are most of all in the Lublin fields, as well as in the Mnevnikovskaya floodplain, in the swamps in Dolgoprudny, in the Krylatsky quarry and along the Navershka River. In these places, where the gulls of the Moscow region winter, there are many non-freezing reservoirs. Several dozen pairs of black-headed gulls spend the winter on the city's rivers, which are not covered with ice.
Common Gull
The color of the river gull in winter resembles a sea pigeon. Gulls can only be recognized by the fact that they have a slightly shorter neck and beak. In those places where black-headed gulls winter, there must be ice-free reservoirs.
Most often, the common gull nests for wintering on the coasts of the seas, in particular the Mediterranean, Caspian and, of course, the Black, as well as on the Pacific coast, in the Indian Ocean and on the islands of Japan. Recently, the range of the European gull has been expanded in winter. It can be found far from the Palearctic. In North America, the gull winters on the eastern coasts.
Thus, the wintering places of the common (river) gull are the deltas of large rivers and the coast of the sea.
Terns are relatives of seagulls
Such a population of birds has a bright color. The tern is much smaller and more graceful than the gull. These birds live near water bodies and on the coasts of the sea, but they winter off the coast of Antarctica. Terns fly to the wintering place across the coast of Eurasia, the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, while making routes of tens of thousands of kilometers.
Main wintering areas for seagulls in Russia
Already since the early 80sof the last century, the number of birds of the order of gulls wintering in cities has increased significantly. There is no permanent record of how many birds there are and where gulls winter, however, members of environmental associations monitor bird nesting sites in winter. So, for example, bird lovers are sure that about 460 gulls winter in the capital, who are looking for a place for themselves not far from the Moscow River. According to the Ryazan Ecological Center, about 100 gulls nest along the Oka River in winter, and they can also be found near the thermal power plant.
The areas of land where the seagull hibernates are very habitable. The most favorable places for nesting seagulls in winter are the Sochi Black Sea coast, as well as the seashore in Tuapse and Gelendzhik. It is here that there is a lot of non-freezing sea area and a large number of river mouths with numerous tributaries that also do not freeze.
Several dozens of seagulls were spotted in the Volgograd region. Here they winter on the Kamyshinka River.
Observations of ecologists confirm that every year seagulls more and more master new land areas near non-freezing reservoirs in winter. To date, the picture of wintering of birds of the gull order in Russian cities is not entirely clear. All data is collected bit by bit by specialists to create a complete picture of where seagulls hibernate.
