Talk:Gull

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gull is included in the 2007 Wikipedia for Schools, or is a candidate for inclusion in future versions. Please maintain high quality standards, and make an extra effort to include free images, because non-free images cannot be used on the CDs.

	Birds Portal Gull is part of WikiProject Birds, an attempt at creating a standardized, informative and easy-to-use ornithological resource. If you would like to participate, visit the project page. Please do not substitute this template.
Start	This article has been rated as start-Class on the quality scale.
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the importance scale.
WikiProject Birds To-do: edit Major taxonomic overhaul (see here) Create Galloanserae

[edit] Predators

Does anyone know the natural predators of the sea gull? Not that I'm going to sic one on these obnoxious critters, just good to know.

I've seen Peregrines Falcons go after them, but mostly in my experience the main thing that east gulls is other gulls. Sabine's Sunbird talk 20:32, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Seals and killer whales have been know to prey on gulls, coming at them from underwater, taking them by surprise and pulling them beneath the waves. On land, they have very few predators, aside from large raptors - the largest gulls are pretty much at the top of the food chain. I've heard of gulls eating their own dead - but never killing each other for food. --Kurt Shaped Box 20:43, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Clarification, gull chick mortality is often caused by other gulls in some species. I haven't seen any gull killing gull to eat it either. Come to think of it, most of the chicks killed by other gulls aren't eaten, just killed. It is possible that where they nest on mainlands mammals take eggs and chicks too (Arctic Foxes in particular like seabird colonies). Sabine's Sunbird talk 20:56, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Yes, gull eggs and chicks are a target for anything that will eat eggs and chicks - rats, magpies, foxes, weasels, etc. How successful they are when faced with the ferocity of the parent gulls is another matter entirely... --Kurt Shaped Box 21:10, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Does anyone have information on the average size of the common sea gull, in terms of wingspan?

I recently have heard that the "sea gull" gets its name because it was "gullible" and easy to catch by sailors, who would feed the birds, and then catch them for dinner. Or did the word "gullible" come from the birds? (Oct.)

Gull, the bird, comes from the Welsh "gwylan". Any connection with gullible cannot be proved, especially as a very similar Norse word, meaning "yellow", refers to unfledged birds. jimfbleak 05:27, 4 October 2005 (UTC)

I heard that the term seagull does not exist, does anyone know if that is true thank you.

Seagull is a fairly common layman word for gulls. Some ornithologists and birders get really upset by it, for reasons I've never really been able to discern. Many people use marine gull to denote a gull that lives at sea most of its life, as opposed to gulls that live in cities, dumps and fields. Sabine's Sunbird talk 21:25, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] which species?

Which exact species of seagull would I find in Toronto? Is it just one, or would it be several? What about New Brunswick?--Sonjaaa 18:13, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Hi Sonjaaa - Though someone watching this talk page may see and answer your question, Your best bet would be to post the same question in one of Wikipedia's Reference Desk categories... either Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science or Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous. I hope this helps! --AbsolutDan ^(talk) 21:08, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure it's the Ring-billed gull that lives in Toronto. I'll check New Brunswick soon and will post here as soon as I can.--~PogoNoodle~ (talk) 22:34, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Do Seagulls eat meat?

Would seagulls eat a dead swan or other large bird? thanks for your help !

As I mentioned to Sonjaaa above, though someone watching this talk page may see and answer your question, your best bet would be to post the same question in one of Wikipedia's Reference Desk categories... either Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Science or Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Miscellaneous. --AbsolutDan ^(talk) 16:46, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

depends - some species like kittiwake only eat live fish, others like Ivory Gull will even feed on whale and porpoise carcasses jimfbleak 19:34, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Gulls will eat just about anything organic if they're hungry enough in any way so they eat a lot totally. They seem to prefer human food where it's available though. --Kurt Shaped Box 20:24, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

It's certainly true that many gull species will eat anything reasonably easy to consume, such as human scraps, but most will not feed at large carcasses, if only because, unlike vultures and crows, they are not equiped to do so (the exception is Ivory Gull). I have never seen specialised species such as kittiwakes or Little Gulls come to scraps. jimfbleak 05:14, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

I've seen herring gulls and great black-backed gulls feeding on sheep carcasses before. There was also a dead porpoise that washed up on the beach here, which the gulls were all over until it was removed. They'll also have a go at the occasional human carcass that washes up too. Their beaks are definitely sharp enough to tear away pieces of dead meat - I once saw a herring gull eating big chunks from a palette of old, rancid cow hides at my local harbor. Perhaps I *was* generalizing when I said that 'gulls' will eat anything organic - but the gulls I am familiar with most certainly will. --Kurt Shaped Box 06:21, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

The gulls in Seattle eat everything. Once I seen a gull swoop down to the city street and swallow whole a chicken leg bone a human had dropped. Then it looked at me and made an embarrassed gesture before it flew. Once I fed them some jalepeno potato chips and the gull started to pant, just like a human. Perhaps they ultimately prefer fresh Salmon carcus over everything

In iceland they hang around Macdondals and eat leftovers hambugers

[edit] Gull problem

I don't know why but i seem to think that gulls are just so weird thats its scary. not that im being gull racist but its just something i have a bad felling about...Plus I work out at a golf corse and the gulls will tear up the grass and make it fell your plying pinball when your putting.--Kunz506 21:36, 29 November 2006 (UTC)Kunz506

[edit] Image help

What kind of gull am I?

I took a picture of a baby gull today, but I have no idea what kind it is. Any help would be appreciated! κаллэмакс 20:05, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure myself - baby gulls of most species tend to look very similar. Have you tried asking at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science? That page gets far more traffic than this one and someone there is bound to know... --Kurt Shaped Box 21:37, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] interwiki link

Why is the Link to Wiktionary above the taxobox rather than in external links, like other interwiki links? Sabine's Sunbird talk 03:06, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] seagulls

does a gull need fresh water or can it live on salt/brackish water69.115.99.240 22:15, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

It depends on what kind of gull. But I think if you put a fresh water gull out at sea, it'll adapt.--~PogoNoodle~ (talk) 22:34, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

All gulls are essentially marine, at least outside the breeding season. Wintering inland is relatively recent phenomenon for most species, aided by reservoirs to roost on and rubbish tips for food. Jimfbleak (talk) 05:56, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

As I understand it, most gulls are capable of drinking and processing salt water. They have the ability to excrete the excess salt through their nostrils (poss. tear ducts too?) as a concentrated brine solution. From my personal observations, it seems that they do prefer to drink fresh water, if available. --Kurt Shaped Box (talk) 12:04, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] gallery

The gallery is getting rather full of pictures. Perhaps a purge of images without any species and locality info is in order. Sabine's Sunbird talk 22:20, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

I've removed a few images of 'gulls in flight' that were near-duplicates - as well as the 'human feeding the gulls pic', which was just a pretty poor picture IMO. Some of the others I'm unsure about removing - I think it's a 'good thing' to document a several of the species in the main article itself to illustrate the diversity of gulls' appearances. The gallery can be trimmed to the bone/removed when the article is expanded and the images are incorporated into the body text. I'd keep the pictures of the chick and gull eggs too. --Kurt Shaped Box 17:51, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Gulls aren't hard to photograph, so where possible the remaining images of unidentified gulls can probably be replaced with better images of known species. Also images of Heerman's Gulls, Ross's Gulls and Lava Gulls (there is one here would give a better idea of the range of potential gulliness. Sabine's Sunbird talk 20:11, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

The pics listed as 'seagulls' actually had the correct species name listed on the image pages themselves - I've fixed that now. The Lava Gull was a nice find (I've been trying to locate an image myself for some time) - that one should be up there too now too. --Kurt Shaped Box 22:24, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image of gull colony

Gull colony in North-West Greenland. The orange patches are specially adapted lichen feasting on gull droppings (white patches).

Hi, I am not knowledgeable about gulls, but I was wondering if it could be of relevance to have an image of a gull colony in this article? If so, I took this one in Greenland last summer, which the editors of this page might want to consider. Unfortunately, I do not know what species it was, but it was a white-winged gull, and the body seemed very white as well. -- Slaunger (talk) 13:32, 13 March 2008 (UTC)