Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera. An older name for gulls is mews, which is cognate with German Möwe, Danish måge, Swedish mås, Dutch meeuw, Norwegian måke/måse and French mouette, and can still be found in certain regional dialects.
The European herring gull is a large gull, up to 66 cm (26 in) long. Common in coastal regions of Western Europe, it was historically more abundant. It breeds across Northern Europe, Western Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Baltic states. Some European herring gulls, especially those resident in colder areas, migrate further south in winter, but many are permanent residents, such as in Ireland, Britain, Iceland, or on the North Sea shores. They have a varied diet, including fish, crustaceans, as well as some plants, and are also scavengers, consuming carrion and food left by or stolen from humans.
The great black-backed gull is the largest member of the gull family. Described by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology as "the king of the Atlantic waterfront", it is a very aggressive hunter, pirate, and scavenger. It breeds on the European and North American coasts and islands of the North Atlantic and is fairly sedentary, though some move farther south or inland to large lakes or reservoirs. The adult great black-backed gull has a white head, neck and underparts, dark grey wings and back, pink legs and yellow bill.
The yellow-legged gull is a large gull found in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of either the Caspian gull L. cachinnans, or more broadly as a subspecies of the herring gull L. argentatus. The genus name is from Latin Larus which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and the species name honours the German zoologist Karl Michahelles.
The silver gull is the most common gull of Australia. It has been found throughout the continent, but particularly at or near coastal areas. It is smaller than the Pacific gull, which also lives in Australia.
The California gull is a medium-sized gull, smaller on average than the herring gull, but larger on average than the ring-billed gull. It lives not just in California, but up and down the entire Western coast of North America, and has breeding ground inland. The yellow bill has a black ring.
Anaho Island is a rocky island in Pyramid Lake, and located on the Pyramid Lake Indian Reservation, Washoe County, in the U.S. state of Nevada.
The Anaho Island National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge on Anaho Island in Pyramid Lake, Nevada. The refuge was established by President Woodrow Wilson in 1913 as a sanctuary for colonial nesting birds. It is home to one of the two largest colonies of pelicans—American white pelicans—in the western U.S. Other birds found on the island include California gulls, Caspian terns, double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, black-crowned night herons, and snowy egrets.
Hog Island is an uninhabited island located off the eastern shore of Washington Island in the town of Washington, Door County, Wisconsin, United States. The island has a land area of 2.14 acres (8,656 m2) and an elevation of 10 feet or 20 feet above Lake Michigan.
Seal Island National Wildlife Refuge is a 1-mile long (1.6 km) island off the coast of Maine, United States near Matinicus Island that is part of the Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge. During any given summer season, over 100 species of birds are observed by researchers on the island. It is home to colonies of many types of seabirds, including Atlantic puffins, double-crested cormorants, razorbills, Leach's storm petrels, eiders, and black guillemots. Seal Island is the last refuge for the dwindling great cormorant population in the Gulf of Maine, with 35 pairs in 2018. A policy of eliminating predatory gulls preceded the recolonization of the island by a large mixed band of Arctic terns and common terns.
Mille Lacs National Wildlife Refuge is a 0.57 acre National Wildlife Refuge in central Minnesota. The refuge consists solely of two small islands in Mille Lacs Lake, and is the smallest National Wildlife Refuge in the United States. It was created on May 14, 1915, to preserve breeding habitat for several bird species. The islands are one of only four breeding colonies of common terns, a threatened species in Minnesota. Other native species breeding within the refuge include ring-billed and herring gulls and double-crested cormorants.
Mohawk Island is a small island in the northeast of Lake Erie, in Haldimand County, Ontario, Canada. It is composed of limestone with almost no vegetation, and is close to the water level. It was formerly known as Gull Island and contains the ruins of the Gull Island Lighthouse which was built in 1848 to guide ships into the Welland Canal at Port Maitland. In 1933, the lighthouse was automated to no longer require a human keeper and lost significance in 1934 due to the realignment of the canal at Port Colborne. It was decommissioned in 1969 when the mechanism was destroyed by a fire. The lighthouse is located close to the shore of Rock Point Provincial Park.
The American herring gull or Smithsonian gull is a large gull that breeds in North America, where it is treated by the American Ornithological Society as a subspecies of herring gull.
Little Galloo Island is located in eastern Lake Ontario near the entrance to Sackets Harbor in Jefferson County, New York, within the jurisdiction of the Town of Hounsfield.
Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge contains more than 50 offshore islands and four coastal parcels, totaling more than 8,100 acres. The complex spans more than 250 miles of Maine coastline and includes five national wildlife refuges — Petit Manan, Cross Island, Franklin Island, Seal Island, and Pond Island. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service manages the refuge complex as part of the National Wildlife Refuge System.
Thacher Island National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge located on Thacher Island near Rockport, Massachusetts. It is managed under the Parker River National Wildlife Refuge. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently does not offer any interpretive facilities or programs at Thacher Island Refuge. A foot trail meanders through shrub/thicket, rocky outcrop and other island habitats and affords opportunities to observe and/or photograph birds and other island and offshore wildlife.
Green Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge of the United States located in the state of Wisconsin. It includes five all or part of six islands in Lake Michigan: Hog Island, Plum Island, Pilot Island, part of St. Martin Island and Rocky Island. Additionally it includes part of Detroit Island. The islands are near Washington Island off the tip of the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin and the Garden Peninsula of Michigan.
The Wisconsin Islands Wilderness is a 29-acre (12 ha) wilderness area located in Door County in northeastern Wisconsin. It is one of the smallest wilderness areas in the United States. Managed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the wilderness area is composed of three islands in Lake Michigan.
Gravel Island is an island in Lake Michigan. It is located in Ellison Bay, in the town of Liberty Grove, Wisconsin. The Gravel Island National Wildlife Refuge is made up of Gravel Island, and nearby Spider Island. The island is uninhabited, and a botanist who visited in 1999 was unable to find any vascular plants on the island.
The Gros-Mécatina Migratory Bird Sanctuary is a protected area in Quebec, Canada. It consists of four islands and a reef in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence that are used as nesting sites by seabirds.
