Gull
Adult Ring-billed Gull
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Aves
Order:	Charadriiformes
Suborder:	Lari
Family:	Laridae Vigors, 1825
Genera
11, see text

Gulls (often informally called seagulls) are birds in the family Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns (family Sternidae) and only distantly related to auks, skimmers, and more distantly to the waders. Until the twenty-first century most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera.^[1]

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. 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 prophylactic 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^[2] The large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. Large White-Headed Gulls are typically long-lived birds, with a maximum age of 49 years recorded for the Herring Gull.^[3]

Gulls nest in large, densely packed noisy colonies. They lay two to three speckled eggs in nests composed of vegetation. The young are precocial, being born with dark mottled down, and mobile upon hatching.^[4]

Gulls—the larger species in particular—are resourceful, inquisitive and intelligent^[5] birds, demonstrating complex methods of communication and a highly developed social structure. For example, many gull colonies display mobbing behaviour, attacking and harassing would-be predators and other intruders.^[6] Certain species (e.g. the Herring Gull) have exhibited tool use behaviour, using pieces of bread as bait with which to catch goldfish, for example.^[7] Many species of gull have learned to coexist successfully with humans and have thrived in human habitats.^[8] Others rely on kleptoparasitism to get their food. Gulls have been observed preying on live whales, landing on the whale as it surfaces to peck out pieces of flesh.^[9]

Description and morphology[link]

The Pacific Gull is a large white-headed gull with a particularly heavy bill

Gull species range in size from the Little Gull, at 120 g (4.2 oz) and 29 cm (11.5 inches), to the Great Black-backed Gull, at 1.75 kg (3.8 lbs) and 76 cm (30 inches). They are generally uniform in shape, with heavy bodies, long wings, moderately long necks . The tails of all but three species are rounded; the exceptions being the Sabine's Gull and Swallow-tailed Gulls, which have forked tails, and the Ross's Gull, which has a wedge-shaped tail. Gulls have moderately long legs (certainly longer than the terns) with fully webbed feet. The bill is generally heavy and slightly hooked, with the larger species having stouter bills than the smaller species. The bill colour is often yellow with a red spot for the larger white-headed species and red, dark red or black in the smaller species.^[10]

The gulls are generalist feeders, indeed they are the least specialised of all the seabirds, and their morphology allows for equal adeptness in swimming, flying and walking. They are more adept walking on land than most other seabirds, and the smaller gulls tend to be more manoeuvrable while walking. The walking gait of gulls includes a slight side to side motion, something that can be exaggerated in breeding displays. In the air they are able to hover and they are also able to take off quickly with little space.^[10]

The general pattern of plumage in adult gulls is a white body with a darker mantle; the extent to which the mantle is darker varies from pale grey to black. A few species vary in this, the Ivory Gull is entirely white, and some like the Lava Gull and Heermann's Gull have partly or entirely grey bodies. The wingtips of most species are black, which improves their resistance to wear and tear, usually with a diagnostic pattern of white makings. The head of gulls may be covered by a dark hood or be entirely white. The plumage of the head varies by breeding season; in non-breeding dark-hooded gulls the hood is lost, sometimes leaving a single spot behind the eye, and in white-headed gulls non-breeding heads may have streaking.^[10]

Distribution and habitat[link]

Swallow-tailed Gulls are endemic to the Galapagos Islands

The gulls have a worldwide cosmopolitan distribution. They breed on every continent, including the margins of Antarctica, and are found in the high Arctic as well. They are less common on tropical islands, although a few species do live on islands such as the Galapagos and New Caledonia. Many species breed in costal colonies, with a preference for islands, and one species, the Grey Gull, breeds in the interior of dry deserts far from water. There is considerable variety in the family and species may breed and feed in marine, freshwater or terrestrial habitats.^[10]

Most gull species are migratory, with birds moving to warmer habitats during the winter, but the extent to which they migrate varies by species. Some species migrate long distances, like the Franklin's Gull, which migrates from Canada to wintering grounds in the south of South America. Other species move much shorter distances and may simply disperse along the coasts near their breeding sites.^[10]

Behaviour[link]

Diet and feeding[link]

Gulls are highly adaptable feeders that opportunistically take a wide range of prey. The food taken by gulls includes fish and marine and freshwater invertebrates, both alive and already dead, terrestrial arthropods and invertebrates such as insects and earthworms, rodents, eggs, carrion, offal, reptiles, amphibians, plant items such as seeds and fruit, human refuse, and even other birds. No gull species is a single-prey specialist, and no gull species forages using only a single method. The type of food depends on circumstances, and terrestrial prey such as seeds, fruit and earthworms are more common during the breeding season while marine prey is more common in the non-breeding season when birds spend more time on large bodies of water. ^[10]

Ivory Gull feeding on carrion

In addition to taking a wide range prey items gulls display great versatility in how they obtain prey. Prey can be obtained in the air, on water or on land. In the air a number of hooded species are able to hawk insects on the wing; larger species perform this feat more rarely. Gulls on the wing will also snatch items both off water and off the ground, and over water they will also plunge-dive to catch prey. Again smaller species are more manoeuvrable and better able to hover-dip fish from the air. Dipping is also common when birds are sitting on the water, and gulls may swim in tight circles or foot paddle to bring marine invertebrates up to the surface. Food is also obtained by searching the ground, often on the shore among sand, mud or rocks. Larger gulls tend to do more feeding in this way. In shallow water gulls may also engage in foot paddling. A unique method of obtaining prey to gulls involves dropping heavy shells of clams and mussels onto hard surfaces.^[10] Gulls may fly some distance in order to find a suitable surface on which to drop shells, and there is apparently a learnt component to the task as older birds are more successful than younger ones.^[11] While overall feeding success is a function of age, the diversity in both prey and feeding methods is not. It has been suggested that the time taken to learn foraging skills explains the delayed maturation in gulls.^[10]

Gulls have only a limited ability to dive below the water in order to feed on deeper prey. In order to obtain prey from deeper down many species of gull feed in association with other animals, where marine hunters drive prey to the surface when hunting.^[10] Examples of such associations include four species of gull feeding around plumes of mud brought to the surface by feeding Grey Whales,^[12] and also between Orcas and Kelp Gulls (and other seabirds).^[13]

Breeding[link]

Black-legged Kittiwakes nest colonially but have tiny, closely packed territories

Gulls are monogamous and colonial breeders that display mate fidelity that usually lasts for the life of the pair. Divorce of mated pairs does occur, but it apparently has a cost that persists for a number of years after the break up, and is thought to be selected against. Gulls also display high levels of site fidelity, returning to the same colony after breeding there once and even usually breeding in the same location within that colony. Colonies can vary from just a few pairs to over a hundred thousand pairs, and may be exclusive to that gull species or shared with other seabird species. A few species nest singly, and single pairs of Band-tailed Gulls may breed in colonies of other birds. Within colonies gull pairs are territorial, defending an area of varying size around the nesting site from others of their species. This area can be as large as a 5 m radius around the nest in the Herring Gull to just a tiny area of cliff ledge in the kittiwakes.^[10]

Most gulls breed once a year and have predictable breeding seasons lasting for three to five months. Gulls begin to assemble around the colony for a few weeks prior to occupying the colony. Existing pairs re-establish their pair-bonds, and unpaired birds begin courting. Birds then move back into their territories and new males establish new territories and attempt to court females. Gulls defend their territories from rivals of both sexes through calls and aerial attacks.^[10]

The nest of a Greater Black-backed Gull, with three typical eggs

Nest building is also part of the pair-bonding. Gull nests are usually mats of herbaceous matter with a central nest cup. Nests are usually built on the ground, but a few species build nests on cliffs, including the kittiwakes which almost always nest in such habitats, and in some cases in trees, like Bonaparte's Gulls. Species that nest in marshes must construct a nesting platform in order to keep the nest dry, particularly in species that nest in tidal marshes. Both sexes gather nesting material and build the nest, but the division of labour isn't always exactly equal. ^[10]

Clutch size is typically three eggs, although it is two in some of the smaller species and only one egg for the Swallow-tailed Gull. Within colonies birds will synchronise their laying, with synchronisation being higher in larger colonies, although after a certain level this levels off. The eggs of gulls are usually dark tan to brown or dark olive with dark splotches and scrawl markings, and are well camouflaged. Both sexes incubate the eggs, with incubation bouts lasting between one and four hours during the day and one parent incubating through the night.^[10]

Incubation lasts between 22 and 26 days, and begins after laying the first egg, although it is discontinuous until the second egg is laid. This means the first two chicks are born close together, and the third chick some time later. Young chicks are brooded by their parents for about one or two weeks, and are often at least one parent will remain with them until they fledge in order to guard them. Both parents feed the chicks, although early on in the rearing period the male does most of the feeding and the female most of the brooding and guarding. ^[10]

Taxonomy[link]

The taxonomy of gulls is confused by their widespread distribution zones of hybridization leading to geneflow. Some have traditionally been considered ring species, but recent evidence suggests that this assumption is questionable.^[14] Until recently, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of the genera Ichthyaetus, Chroicocephalus, Leucophaeus, Saundersilarus and Hydrocoloeus.^[1] Some English names refer to species complexes within the group:

• Large white-headed gull is used to describe the 18 or so Herring Gull-like species from California Gull to Lesser Black-backed Gull in the taxonomic list below.
• White-winged gull is used to describe the 4 pale-winged, High Arctic-breeding taxa within the former group; these are Iceland Gull, Glaucous Gull, Thayer's Gull, and Kumlien's Gull.

Hybridisation between species of gull occurs quite frequently, although to varying degrees depending on the species involved (see Hybridisation in gulls). The taxonomy of the large white-headed gulls is particularly complicated.

In common usage, members of various gull species are often referred to as sea gulls or seagulls. This name is used informally to refer to a common local species or all gulls in general, and has no fixed taxonomic meaning.^{[citation needed]}

The American Ornithologists' Union combines Sternidae, Stercorariidae, and Rhynchopidae as subfamilies in the family Laridae, but recent research ^[15][16][17] indicates that this is incorrect.

List of species[link]

Gulls acquire food from humans both through handouts and theft

This is a list of gull species, presented in taxonomic sequence.

Sabine's Gull is the only species in the genus Xema

An American Herring Gull eating a sea star

Ivory Gull

A gull attacking a coot. Note that this gull is probably going after the bread or other food item in the bill of this American Coot, though Great Black-backed Gulls are known to kill and eat coots.

Gulls in a feeding frenzy

Genus Larus

• Pacific Gull, Larus pacificus
• Belcher's Gull, Larus belcheri
• Olrog's Gull, Larus atlanticus
• Black-tailed Gull, Larus crassirostris
• Heermann's Gull, Larus heermanni
• Common Gull or Mew Gull, Larus canus
• Ring-billed Gull, Larus delawarensis
• California Gull, Larus californicus
• Great Black-backed Gull, Larus marinus
• Kelp Gull, Larus dominicanus (called "Southern Black-backed Gull" or "Karoro" in New Zealand)
  • Cape Gull, Larus dominicanus vetula
• Glaucous-winged Gull, Larus glaucescens
• Western Gull, Larus occidentalis
• Yellow-footed Gull, Larus livens
• Glaucous Gull, Larus hyperboreus
• Iceland Gull, Larus glaucoides
  • Kumlien's Gull, Larus glaucoides kumlieni
• Thayer's Gull, Larus thayeri
• European Herring Gull, Larus argentatus
• Heuglin's Gull, Larus heuglini
• American Herring Gull, Larus smithsonianus
• Yellow-legged Gull, Larus michahellis
• Caspian Gull, Larus cachinnans
• East Siberian Herring Gull, Larus vegae
• Armenian Gull, Larus armenicus
• Slaty-backed Gull, Larus schistisagus
• Lesser Black-backed Gull, Larus fuscus

Genus Ichthyaetus

• White-eyed Gull, Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus
• Sooty Gull, Ichthyaetus hemprichii
• Great Black-headed Gull, Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus
• Audouin's Gull, Ichthyaetus audouinii
• Mediterranean Gull, Ichthyaetus melanocephalus
• Relict Gull, Ichthyaetus relictus

Genus Leucophaeus

• Dolphin Gull, Leucophaeus scoresbii
• Laughing Gull, Leucophaeus atricilla
• Franklin's Gull, Leucophaeus pipixcan
• Lava Gull, Leucophaeus fuliginosus
• Gray Gull, Leucophaeus modestus

Genus Chroicocephalus

• Silver Gull, Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae
• Red-billed Gull, Chroicocephalus scopulinus
• Hartlaub's Gull, Chroicocephalus hartlaubii
• Brown-hooded Gull, Chroicocephalus maculipennis
• Gray-hooded Gull, Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus
• Andean Gull, Chroicocephalus serranus
• Black-billed Gull, Chroicocephalus bulleri
• Brown-headed Gull, Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus
• Black-headed Gull, Chroicocephalus ridibundus
• Slender-billed Gull, Chroicocephalus genei
• Bonaparte's Gull, Chroicocephalus philadelphia

Genus Saundersilarus

• Saunders's Gull, Saundersilarus saundersi

Genus Hydrocoloeus

• Little Gull, Hydrocoloeus minutus

Genus Rhodostethia

• Ross's Gull, Rhodostethia rosea

Genus Rissa

• Black-legged Kittiwake, Rissa tridactyla
• Red-legged Kittiwake, Rissa brevirostris

Genus Pagophila

• Ivory Gull, Pagophila eburnea

Genus Xema

• Sabine's Gull, Xema sabini

Genus Creagrus

• Swallow-tailed Gull, Creagrus furcatus'

Evolution[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Laridae are known from fossil evidence since the Early Oligocene, some 30-33 ma (million years) ago. A fossil gull from the Middle to Late Miocene of Cherry County, Nebraska, USA is placed in the prehistoric genus Gaviota; apart from this and the undescribed Early Oligocene fossil, all prehistoric species were tentatively assigned to the modern genus Larus. Among those of them that have been confirmed as gulls, "Larus" elegans and "L." totanoides from the Late Oligocene/Early Miocene of southeast France have since been separated in Laricola.

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Grant, Peter J. (1986) Gulls: a guide to identification ISBN 0-85661-044-5
• Howell, Steve N. G. and Jon Dunn (2007) Gulls of the Americas ISBN 0-618-72641-1
• Olsen, Klaus Malling & Larsson, Hans (1995): Terns of Europe and North America. Christopher Helm, London. ISBN 0-7136-4056-1

External links[link]

Look up gull in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Laridae

• Rudy's Gull-index Pictures of less well-known plumages of large gulls
• Gull videos on the Internet Bird Collection
• Gullpix Pictures of gulls, sorted by species

This article may contain improper references to self-published sources. Please help improve it by removing references to unreliable sources, where they are used inappropriately. (January 2012)

Sharbat Gula (Pashto: شربت ګله) (pronounced [ˈʃaɾbat]) (born ca. 1972) is an Afghan woman who was the subject of a famous photograph by journalist Steve McCurry. Gula was living as a refugee in Pakistan during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed. The image brought her recognition when it was featured on the cover of the June 1985 issue of National Geographic Magazine at a time when she was approximately 12 years old. Gula was known throughout the world simply as "the Afghan Girl" until she was formally identified in early 2002. The photograph has been likened to Leonardo da Vinci's painting of the Mona Lisa^[1][2] and is sometimes popularly referred to as "the Afghan Mona Lisa".^{[3][unreliable source?]}

Photo's subject[link]

Pashtun^[4] by ethnicity, Gula was orphaned during the Soviet Union's bombing of Afghanistan and sent to the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan in 1984. Her village was attacked by Soviet helicopter gunships sometime in the early 1980s. The Soviet strike killed her parents — forcing her, her siblings and grandmother to hike over the mountains to the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in neighboring Pakistan.^{[5][unreliable source?]}

She married in the late 1980s and returned to Afghanistan in 1992. Gula had three daughters: Robina, Zahida, and Alia. A fourth daughter died in infancy. Gula has expressed the hope that her girls will receive the education she was never able to complete.

1984 photograph[link]

At the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in 1984, Gula's photograph was taken by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry on Kodachrome color slide film, with a Nikon FM2 camera and Nikkor 105mm F2.5 lens.^[6] The pre-print photo retouching was done by Graphic Art Service, based in Marietta, Georgia. Gula was one of the students in an informal school within the refugee camp; McCurry seized a rare opportunity to photograph Afghan women and captured her image.

Although her name was not known, her picture, titled "Afghan Girl", appeared on the June 1985 cover of National Geographic. The image of her face, with a red scarf draped loosely over her head and with her piercing sea-green eyes staring directly into the camera, became a symbol both of the 1980s Afghan conflict and of the refugee situation worldwide. The image itself was named "the most recognized photograph" in the history of the magazine.^[7]

Search for the Afghan Girl[link]

The identity of the Afghan Girl remained unknown for over 17 years; Afghanistan remained largely closed to Western media until after the removal of the Taliban government by American troops and local allies in 2001. Although McCurry made several attempts during the 1990s to locate her, he was unsuccessful.

In January 2002, a National Geographic team traveled to Afghanistan to locate the subject of the now-famous photograph. McCurry, upon learning that the Nasir Bagh refugee camp was soon to close, inquired of its remaining residents, one of whom knew Gula's brother and was able to send word to her hometown. However, there were a number of women who came forward and identified themselves erroneously as the famous Afghan Girl. In addition, after being shown the 1985 photo, a handful of young men falsely claimed Gula as their wife.

Stenciled rendition on rock at the Albany Bulb.

The team finally located Gula, then around the age of 30, in a remote region of Afghanistan; she had returned to her native country from the refugee camp in 1992. Her identity was confirmed using biometric technology, which matched her iris patterns to those of the photograph with almost full certainty.^[8] She vividly recalled being photographed—she had been photographed on only three occasions: in 1984 and during the search for her when a National Geographic producer took the identifying pictures that led to the reunion with Steve McCurry. She had never seen her famous portrait before it was shown to her in January 2002.

Legacy[link]

More recent pictures of her were featured as part of a cover story on her life in the April 2002 issue of National Geographic and she was the subject of a television documentary, entitled Search for the Afghan Girl, which aired in March 2002. In recognition of her,^[9] National Geographic set up the Afghan Girls Fund, a charitable organization with the goal of educating Afghan girls and young women.^[10] In 2008, the scope of the fund was broadened to include boys and the name was changed to Afghan Children's Fund.^[11]

In 2010, the South African photographer Jodi Bieber won the World Press Photo of the Year award for her photograph of Bibi Aisha, an Afghan victim of facial mutilation at the hands of her estranged husband. In making the photograph, Bibi was inspired by Afghan Girl: "For me, it was putting a moment of history in perspective. It was just one thing that added to the image", she said.^[12]

References[link]

External links[link]

• A Life Revealed
• High-resolution image on deviantArt
• Search for the Afghan Girl at the Internet Movie Database
• Before and After - The Afghan Girl (1984 and 2002) - National Geographic
• 'Afghan Girl': Taking National Geographic's Most Famous Photo, FORA.tv, "The Chautauqua Institution", YouTube, July 29, 2010. (Video clip)