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Kelp Gull
Image by Jon Sullivan - License: Public Domain. (view image details)
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Kelp Gull
Photograph copyright: Nickolay Tilcheff - all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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juvenile Kelp Gull
Photograph copyright: Nickolay Tilcheff - all rights reserved. Used with permission.
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KELP GULL FACTS |
Description
Body white, except for black wings and back. Bill yellow with a small red spot at tip on the lower bill. Legs yellow. Young birds brown with mottled pale brown on upperparts and a dark brown bill. Body up to 60 cm long.
Kelp Gulls attain their adult plumage when about four years old. They are often gregarious and noisy. Kelp Gulls are known to break open molluscs by dropping them onto rocks from above. Kelp Gulls were first recorded as a vagrant to Australia in 1928 but have since established breeding populations within Australia.
Author credit: Museum Victoria Sciences Staff / Museum Victoria
Habitat
Coastal areas and offshore islands.
Food
Carnivore
Range
South-western and south-eastern mainland Australia and Tasmania.
Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Species Description is from Museums Field Guide, Atlas of Living Australia at website at https://lists.ala.org.au Licensed under Creative Commons Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Classification
| Class: | Aves | | Order: | Charadriiformes | | Family: | Laridae | | Genus: | Larus | | Species: | dominicanus | | Common Name: | Kelp Gull |
Relatives in same Genus
Laughing Gull (L. atricilla)
Black-tailed Gull (L. crassirostris)
Silver Gull (L. novaehollandiae)
Pacific Gull (L. pacificus)
Franklins Gull (L. pipixcan)
Black-headed Gull (L. ridibundus)
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