MARS Moment 2011 by Sandy Fairfield, MARS Education Coordinator
Acrobats of the skies, gulls can float on the wind currents
without a wing beat; they are very agile and can manoeuvre
themselves or hover, with the ability to land like a feather.
Although we all tend to refer to all gulls as "seagulls" there
are over twenty species that live in North America, nineteen of
these live in B.C. Gulls are a bird species that can often be
very difficult to identify, especially the juveniles as they
have different plumage coloration each year until they reach
maturity at 4 years old. Overall, gulls are robust, long winged
birds with stout, sharp, hooked bills and webbed feet with the
exception of the hind toe. The best method of identification for
adult gulls is by the bill, leg and feet coloration, which can
be black, yellow, red or pink. The Western gull is one of the
more common gulls in our area and has a very specific habitat
range along the coastline of British Columbia, south to the Baja
in California and Mexico