Common American Gull (Larus canus)

The Common American Gull is an average-sized seabird that belongs to the Larus genus of the Laridae family . The scientific name of this gull is Larus canus, and they can be largely found in the northern parts of Asia, the northwestern parts of North America and in the northern parts of Europe. The Common American Gull wanders further south during the winter season. The Common American Gull is not an abundant variety, and it feeds on short pasture, common land, used for grazing during the winter season.

Features

An adult Common American Gull is capable of growing to a maximum body length ranging from 16 inches to 18.4 inches (40 cm to 46 cm), obviously smaller than the herring gull, and somewhat smaller than the ring-billed gull. This gull has a more pointed bill with a more greenish shadow of yellow, including being unmarked during its breeding season.

The upper part of the body of the Common American Gull is grey in color, whereas its lower body part appears white in color. These gulls have greenish-yellow color legs. During the winter season, the head of the Common American Gull is streaked grey in color, and its bill habitually has a badly defined black color band close to the tip

The wingtips of the Common American Gull appear black in color, with big white color "mirrors". Juvenile birds contain scaly black-brown color upperparts and an orderly wing pattern, and grey color legs. The young birds take two to three years to attain maturity. The call of this a bird is a lofty-pitched laughing howl.

Diet

The Common American Gull forages during their flight or they pick up things during swimming, wading or walking. They mostly feed on fish, insects, and eggs. They also search for food at waste dumps or docks. They may pursue plows in the agricultural lands for insects, awakened by this action.

Life cycle

The Common American Gull is a migratory bird that mostly moves to the Pacific shoreline during the winter season. Certainly, it is the only seabird then that is frequently found in California. The breeding habitat of these seabirds is lakes and marshes in the western parts of North America. Their nest is a low depression, lined with plants and feathers. The Common American Gull breeds will construct a lined nest, occasionally with other birds, in a small tree or on the ground. The size of the colony ranges from 2 to 320 birds or even additional pairs.

Generally, the female bird lays three eggs, but occasionally, it may lay only one or two eggs. The eggs will hatch after 24 to 26 days, with the baby birds fledging following a further 30 to 35 days. Both male and female gulls will feed the juvenile birds. Similar to most gulls, the Common American Gull is omnivorous and it will forage as well as hunt little prey. The worldwide population of these gulls is anticipated to be roughly one million pairs. Most of them live in Europe, with more than 50 percent of the gull population of the world.

The maximum lifespan of the Common American Gull is 24 years.