Geographic Range
Larus argentatus
is found across Eurasia and North America. The herring gull geographic range stretches
across the northern hemisphere through Alaska, northern Canada, and Russia. Herring
gulls are found on both North American coasts, having gradually extended in range
down the Atlantic coast. They can be found year-round in the lower Great Lakes area,
but generally breed in the northern area of their range and winter in the south along
the Pacific and Atlantic coasts, the Gulf of Mexico, and on several Caribbean Islands.
- Biogeographic Regions
- nearctic
- palearctic
- Other Geographic Terms
- holarctic
Habitat
Herring gulls tend to live and breed in coastal areas and generally only live inland
in small numbers and near bodies of water. The most important habitat requirements
are the nearby presence of a food source, distance from major predators, and shelter
from prevailing winds. Herring gulls prefer to breed on flat ground on offshore islands,
on the mainland these gulls prefer cliffs, where there is less risk of exposure to
predatory mammals. Although herring gulls prefer to nest on rock or sand, highest
breeding success has often been observed in birds that nest in vegetated areas.
Herring gull foraging habitat is not typically the same as their nesting habitat;
in coastal areas herring gulls search for food in the intertidal zone and at sea.
Herring gulls are also found in coastal urban areas, nesting on roofs and eating urban
refuse.
- Habitat Regions
- temperate
- terrestrial
- saltwater or marine
- Aquatic Biomes
- lakes and ponds
- coastal
- Other Habitat Features
- urban
Physical Description
Herring gulls are fairly large
gulls
. Male herring gulls range in size from 60 to 66 centimeters in length and 1050 and
1250 grams in weight, while female herring gulls range from 56 to 62 centimeters in
length and 800 to 980 grams in weight. The wing span of herring gulls ranges from
137 to 146 centimeters. While male herring gulls are larger than female herring gulls,
the sexes have similar plumage. Their heads and underparts are white, and they have
light gray backs. Herring gulls have yellow bills with a red spot on the lower mandible
and pink or flesh-colored legs. Herring gull outermost wing feathers are black and
have a white spot. During winters, adult gulls have streaks of brown coloring on their
heads. Adult herring gulls have golden eyes surrounded by a yellow-orange ring of
skin.
Herring gulls take four years to acquire standard adult plumage and are mottled brown
during their first four years. The eyes of immature herring gulls are dark brown,
rather than golden, and are surrounded by blackish skin, rather than orange-yellow.
Their bills are black and their legs are dark gray.
Herring gulls belong to a complex of gulls, all of which share similarities and may
be confused with one another. Because of hybridization and other factors, the taxonomy
of gulls is complicated. Great black-backed gulls (
Larus marinus
), are much larger than herring gulls and have a lighter bill and darker mantle. Lesser
black-backed gulls (
Larus fuscus
) have a dark mantle and yellow legs. Both great and lesser black-backed gulls have
occasionally hybridized with herring gulls.
Ring-billed gulls (
Larus delawarensis
) are smaller than herring gulls, with yellow legs in adulthood and possessing a bill
with a distinct black ring and lacking a red spot.
Thayer's gulls (
Larus thayeri
) are quite similar to herring gulls, but adult Thayer's gulls have dark eyes and
much less black coloring under the wingtip. The species status of Thayer's gulls has
been questioned. They may be a form of
Larus argentatus
or Iceland gulls (
Larus glaucoides
).
California gulls (
Larus californicus
) have yellowish green legs, a black spot in front of the red spot on the bill, and
are smaller than herring gulls.
Western gulls (
Larus occidentalis
) are similar in size but have a darker mantle.
Glaucous-winged gulls (
Larus glaucescens
) are similar in color but somewhat larger in size compared to herring gulls, and
have pale gray rather than black wingtips in addition to a dark iris and purplish
skin around their eyes. Hybrids between western gulls and glaucous-winged gulls can
appear quite like herring gulls, but often with less black wingtips.
Mew gulls (
Larus canus
) are much smaller than herring gulls and have yellow legs and unmarked yellow bills.
- Other Physical Features
- endothermic
- homoiothermic
- bilateral symmetry
- Sexual Dimorphism
- male larger
Reproduction
Herring gulls are almost always monogamous, with rare cases of 1 male and 2 females
occupying a territory and incubating 1 or 2 nests. The secondary female rarely achieves
breeding success. Pairs are formed on the male's territory or in loafing areas. Males
and females choose territory for egg-laying together, once they have paired. Males
regurgitate food for females before eggs are laid. Any late arrivals pair only after
early-nesting pairs have already begun breeding. Pair bonds are maintained for the
life of both partners. If a male fails to provide enough food to the female during
egg formation or if the partners fail to synchronize their eggs (leaving eggs unattended
and often lost or eaten), the pair may separate. Within the colony, pairs nest as
far apart as space allows.
There are no displays specific to courtship, but females usually approach males in
a hunched posture, producing a begging call. The male responds by assuming an upright
posture or mew-calling (see Pierotti & Good for more information on specific types
of calls). Head-tossing occurs repeatedly by both male and female and the male regurgitates
food for the female; if she eats it, copulation often happens immediately. Otherwise,
the female may walk away and prevent copulation. Males jump on females' backs with
wings outspread in order to copulate. Mate-guarding is most intense in the week prior
to egg laying. Males whose mates have already laid eggs may attempt to force copulation
on neighboring incubating females; no such attempt has ever been observed as successful.
- Mating System
- monogamous
- polygynous
Herring gulls breed during spring, pairing around mid-March and laying eggs by mid-May.
Adults breed beginning around four years of age, although breeding for the first time
at three or five years of age is also observed.
Females take 4 to 6 days to lay 3-egg clutches, and the eggs are incubated by both
parents for about four weeks. Chicks are able to leave the nest on foot after just
one day. Chicks fledge after about six weeks and are fed in the territory where they
were born for until about 12 to 15 weeks old. Occasionally, they are cared for by
parents off territory for as long as 6 months.
- Key Reproductive Features
- iteroparous
- seasonal breeding
- gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate)
- sexual
- oviparous
Both male and female parents incubate eggs. The female spends more time incubating
than the male does, and incubates at night. The male spends more time away from the
nest, procuring food for the female. Many parents remove broken shells once chicks
have hatched. Chicks are semiprecocial at hatching, with gray and black down and open
eyes. After one week they are able to run around on their own. Chicks are protected
by both parents and, during dangerous weather, are brooded until 10 days of age. Chicks
fledge at about 6 weeks of age and are fed by parents on parental territory until
they are 11 to 12 weeks old; so long as chicks continue to beg, they may receive food
from parents until about 6 months of age. Males feed more often before fledging, females
feed chicks more after fledging. Studies have found that herring gull parents can
feed lead-poisoned chicks, which are generally lighter than normal chicks when studied
in the laboratory, enough so that the chicks maintain a close-to-average weight (Burger
and Gochfeld, 2000). Chicks are fed regurgitated food that consists of small prey
such as small fishes, insects, and earthworms.
- Parental Investment
-
pre-fertilization
- provisioning
-
protecting
- female
-
pre-hatching/birth
-
provisioning
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-weaning/fledging
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
protecting
- male
- female
-
provisioning
-
pre-independence
-
provisioning
- male
- female
-
provisioning
Lifespan/Longevity
Herring gulls live up to 30 years of age, but many die earlier, especially as chicks.
Causes of mortality include injuries, being shot or poisoned by fishermen, ingesting
contaminants such as bacteria and lead (especially in the Great Lakes, where many
chicks have shown deformities related to toxins), fishing lines and nets, and occasional
predation by predators such as owls and foxes. The dangers presented to
Larus argentatus
in the Great Lakes by contaminants have decreased since the 1980s, when contaminant
levels began to decline. Most deaths occur during breeding, when both adults and young
are vulnerable.
Behavior
Herring gulls are not a solitary species, preferring to nest in colonies. However,
they do carefully protect their chosen territory within a colony. Social hierarchies
among herring gulls vary; adults are usually dominant over juvenile gulls and, while
females prevail regarding choice of nest site, males may dominate females regarding
feeding and boundary conflicts.
Herring gull pairs return to their same nesting site for so long as the male is alive
and has not deserted the female.
Herring gull chicks and juveniles “play” by carrying around objects and engaging in
tug-of-war games.
Herring gulls often develop individual preferences for food and feeding techniques.
- Key Behaviors
- terricolous
- flies
- natatorial
- diurnal
- motile
- migratory
- territorial
- social
- colonial
Home Range
Herring gulls usually forage within 20 kilometers, but up to 100 kilometers, from
their colony; this home range is dependent on location of preferred food sources.
Communication and Perception
Herring gulls have no song, but have a complex system of anywhere from 8 to perhaps
15 calls; two are used by nestlings and another three are used only by breeding adults.
Various calls serve to identify returning partners, demonstrate aggression, warn the
colony of predators, and to dispute territory with neighboring gulls.
When males are disputing territory, they may pull at grass with their beaks as part
of their demonstration.
Chicks begin making begging calls to demand food upon hatching; the call grows more
intense as they grow and by 5 weeks of age, a chick begs by lifting its head with
each peep and holding its head hunched against its body. When chicks are pursued,
they emit a shrill waver. The begging call and shrill waver exhibited by chicks are
both similar to noises that adult gulls make. Chicks also peck at the red spot on
their parent's bills in order to stimulate food regurgitation.
- Other Communication Modes
- duets
Food Habits
Herring gulls are opportunistic predators of marine invertebrates, fishes, insects,
other seabirds, other birds, bird eggs, and are opportunistic scavengers of dead animals
and garbage. Herring gulls are omnivorous but prefer animal foods. Herring gulls at
sea forage in scattered groups that converge quickly once prey has been located; the
birds follow foraging whales or even fishing boat nets, eating fish, squid, and zooplankton
at the surface. Individual specialization in feeding is common, i.e., a particular
bird will seek out the same type of food again and again.
The type of food consumed differs by the given bird's location and the time of year.
For example, in Newfoundland, herring gulls often eat mussels (
Mytilus edulis
) and refuse during incubation, switch to capelin (
Mallotus villosus
) when chicks hatch, and then switch to squid (
Illex illecebrosus
) later in the summer. Herring gulls appear to choose foods according to their dietary
needs (such as during egg-laying) when sufficiently numerous food sources are available.
- Primary Diet
-
carnivore
- eats terrestrial vertebrates
- piscivore
- eats non-insect arthropods
- molluscivore
- omnivore
- Animal Foods
- birds
- mammals
- fish
- eggs
- carrion
- insects
- mollusks
- terrestrial worms
- aquatic crustaceans
- echinoderms
- other marine invertebrates
- zooplankton
- Plant Foods
- roots and tubers
- seeds, grains, and nuts
- fruit
Predation
The preference of jerring gulls for living on cliff edges and on rocky off-shore islands
with available hiding spots for chicks reflects anti-predator behavior. When a predator
is first seen, herring gulls give an alarm call. If a predator approaches, herring
gulls give a warning call and then take flight. Herring gulls mob flying predators
by diving and striking with beaks and feet, and also dive at terrestrial predators,
striking then with wings and feet, rather than with beaks. If a chick gives a shrill
waver, its parents attack the involved predator while other herring gulls make intense
calls described as "long-call notes."
Ecosystem Roles
Though
Larus argentatus
is a predator of other birds, its attacks on predators sometimes serve to protect
birds such as eiders (
Somateria mollissima
) and puffins (
Fratercula artica
) which live nearby. Herring gull consumption of dead animals on land and at sea is
a form of biodegradation.
- Ecosystem Impact
- biodegradation
Economic Importance for Humans: Positive
Herring gulls are significant enough in population size to permit their use as experimental
subjects both within the wild and the laboratory, with potentially positive results
for humans gleaned from the research. In addition, the wide geographic range of herring
gulls makes the species useful for making observations concerning pollutants for a
great number of areas. For example, herring gulls in the wild have been used to study
the behavioral effects of lead, and herring gull eggs from large parts of North America
have been used to analyze levels and spread of a number of chemical contaminants.
Herring gulls can contribute to beach sanitation by eating dead fish and trash left
behind by humans. The gulls, in the pursuit of food, also sometimes lead fishermen
to schools of herring.
A study in Murmansk, Russia, found that because the diet of urban herring gulls consisted
of about 45% rat and town animal remains, herring gulls may contribute to urban sanitation.
During the late 19th century, along the Atlantic coast, herring gulls were a useful
source of eggs and were also pursued for the decorative value of their feathers.
- Positive Impacts
- food
- body parts are source of valuable material
- research and education
Economic Importance for Humans: Negative
Herring gulls have an adverse effect on humans in areas where their population size, combined with their foraging habits (e.g., stealing human food), makes them a pest.
Gulls, including
Larus argentatus
, are involved in approximately 20.3% of collisions between aircraft and birds. Collisions
between aircraft and birds have caused 159,504 hours of aircraft downtime in a 13-year
period in the United States and result in economic losses of hundreds of millions
of dollars annually.
Conservation Status
Herring gull populations seem to be stable and are not recognized as at risk by conservation agencies.
Other Comments
Herring gulls prefer to drink fresh water, but in the absence of fresh water will drink sea water. These birds have glands located over their eyes which excrete salt; this excretion can be seen dripping off herring gull bills.
Herring gulls are part of a complex of gulls in the Northern Hemisphere, with species
and subspecies classifications changing over time. Thayer’s gulls (
Larus thayeri
) were at one time considered a subspecies of
Larus argentatus
or Iceland gulls (
Larus glaucoides
). The only currently recognized subspecies that breeds in North America is
L. a. smithsonianus
, while nine subspecies are recognized in Eurasia.
In addition to subspecies, hybrids are known to occur with great black-backed gulls
(
Larus marinus
) in Canada and with glaucous-winged gulls (
Larus glaucescens
) in Alaska and Utah.
Additional Links
Contributors
Tanya Dewey (editor), Animal Diversity Web.
Shane Spencer (author), University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Kevin Omland (editor, instructor), University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
- Nearctic
-
living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- Palearctic
-
living in the northern part of the Old World. In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa.
- native range
-
the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.
- holarctic
-
a distribution that more or less circles the Arctic, so occurring in both the Nearctic and Palearctic biogeographic regions.
Found in northern North America and northern Europe or Asia.
- temperate
-
that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).
- terrestrial
-
Living on the ground.
- saltwater or marine
-
mainly lives in oceans, seas, or other bodies of salt water.
- coastal
-
the nearshore aquatic habitats near a coast, or shoreline.
- urban
-
living in cities and large towns, landscapes dominated by human structures and activity.
- endothermic
-
animals that use metabolically generated heat to regulate body temperature independently of ambient temperature. Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a (now extinct) synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities. Convergent in birds.
- bilateral symmetry
-
having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.
- monogamous
-
Having one mate at a time.
- polygynous
-
having more than one female as a mate at one time
- iteroparous
-
offspring are produced in more than one group (litters, clutches, etc.) and across multiple seasons (or other periods hospitable to reproduction). Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons (or periodic condition changes).
- seasonal breeding
-
breeding is confined to a particular season
- sexual
-
reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female
- oviparous
-
reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.
- natatorial
-
specialized for swimming
- diurnal
-
- active during the day, 2. lasting for one day.
- motile
-
having the capacity to move from one place to another.
- migratory
-
makes seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds
- territorial
-
defends an area within the home range, occupied by a single animals or group of animals of the same species and held through overt defense, display, or advertisement
- social
-
associates with others of its species; forms social groups.
- colonial
-
used loosely to describe any group of organisms living together or in close proximity to each other - for example nesting shorebirds that live in large colonies. More specifically refers to a group of organisms in which members act as specialized subunits (a continuous, modular society) - as in clonal organisms.
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- duets
-
to jointly display, usually with sounds in a highly coordinated fashion, at the same time as one other individual of the same species, often a mate
- carrion
-
flesh of dead animals.
- zooplankton
-
animal constituent of plankton; mainly small crustaceans and fish larvae. (Compare to phytoplankton.)
- biodegradation
-
helps break down and decompose dead plants and/or animals
- food
-
A substance that provides both nutrients and energy to a living thing.
- carnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats meat
- piscivore
-
an animal that mainly eats fish
- molluscivore
-
eats mollusks, members of Phylum Mollusca
- omnivore
-
an animal that mainly eats all kinds of things, including plants and animals
- visual
-
uses sight to communicate
- tactile
-
uses touch to communicate
- acoustic
-
uses sound to communicate
- chemical
-
uses smells or other chemicals to communicate
References
Blackwell, B., G. Bernhardt. 2004. Efficacy of aircraft landing lights in stimulating avoidance behavior in birds. Journal of Wildlife Management , 68/3: 725-732.
Burger, J., M. Gochfeld. 2000. Effects of lead on birds (Laridae): a review of laboratory and field studies. Journal Of Toxicology And Environmental Health , 3/2: 59-78.
Finney, S., M. Harris, L. Keller, D. Elston, P. Monaghan, S. Wanless. 2003. Reducing the density of breeding gulls influences the pattern of recruitment of immature Atlantic puffins Fratercula arctica to a breeding colony. The Journal of Applied Ecology , 40/3: 545-552.
Goryaeva, A. 2007. Reproduction success of the herring gull Larus argentatus in Murmansk in 2006. Doklady Biological Sciences , 416: 389-390.
Kubetzki, U., S. Garthe. 2003. Distribution, diet and habitat selection by four sympatrically breeding gull species in the south-eastern North Sea. Marine Biology , 143/1: 199-207.
Pierotti, R., T. Good. 1994. "Herring Gull (Larus argentatus)" (On-line). The Birds of North America Online. Accessed April 09, 2008 at http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/124/articles/introduction .
Rodway, M., H. Regehr. 1999. Habitat selection and reproductive performance of food-stressed herring gulls. The Condor , 101/03: 566-576.
Weseloh, D., C. Pekarik, S. De Solla. 2006. Spatial patterns and rankings of contaminant concentrations in herring gull eggs from 15 sites in the Great Lakes and connecting channels, 1998–2002. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment , 113: 265-284.
Scottish Seabird Centre. 2007. Herring gull. Accessed April 13, 2008 at http://www.seabird.org/birds-herring-gull.asp .
Cornell Lab of Ornithology. 2003. "All About Birds" (On-line). Herring Gull. Accessed April 05, 2008 at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/Herring_Gull_dtl.html .
Canadian Wildlife Service & Canadian Wildlife Federation. 2008. "Hinterland Who's Who" (On-line). Herring Gull. Accessed April 05, 2008 at http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?cid=7&id=49 .