Camera Critters
Posted on Dec 04, 2008 under Uncategorized | No Comment
Hello guys! Good morning to all of you. Here’s my Camera Critters for this week, a lovely seagulls that I took last summer when we had a picnic at Toronto Centerville Islands. There are hundreds of intelligent seagulls live in this beautiful Island.
Gulls also known as Seagulls are birds in the family of Laridae. They are most closely related to the terns or family Sternidae and only distantly related to auks, and skimmers, and more distantly to the waders. Until recently, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but this arrangement is now known to be polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection of several genera.
They 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. They have stout, longish bills, and webbed feet. Gull species range in size from the Little Gull, at 120 g or 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).
Source: Wikipedia
There are many different types of gull but most of them are white, with grey or black wings, a yellow beak and are about the size of a chicken (but some are smaller). Gulls can eat most types of food but like meat more than anything else. They look around for discarded food and dead animals to eat as well as hunting and have learned how to live and breed in the same places as people. Most types of seagull are awake during the day and sleep at night. They like to sleep on water, like lakes or the sea when the water is calm.
Gulls used to be found only near the sea, as they are water birds with webbed feet for swimming. They are more common inland these days because they can find food wherever people live, often on garbage dumps or in the streets of towns and cities. Seagulls are intelligent compared to other birds and have a very complicated system of noises and body movements that they use to talk to other seagulls.
Most types of seagull breed once a year and have two or three chicks (babies). Mother gulls are very protective of their eggs and chicks and will sometimes fight to the death to defend them.
Gulls are not usually eaten by people.
Source: Wikipedia
