Ross's gull (Rhodostethia rosea ) is a small gull, the only species in its genus, although it has been suggested it should be moved to the genus Hydrocoloeus, which otherwise only includes the little gull.This bird is named after the British explorer James Clark Ross. Its breeding grounds were first discovered in 1905 by Sergei Aleksandrovich Buturlin near the village of Pokhodsk in North-Eastern Yakutia, while visiting the area as a judge. The genus name Rhodostethia is from Ancient Greek rhodon, "rose", and stethos, "breast". The specific rosea is Latin for "rose-coloured".
An insectivore is a carnivorous plant or animal that eats insects. An alternative term is entomophage, which also refers to the human practice of e...
A piscivore is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous. Fish were the die...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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CongregatoryCongregatory animals tend to gather in large numbers in specific areas as breeding colonies, for feeding, or for resting.
Oviparous animals are female animals that lay their eggs, with little or no other embryonic development within the mother. This is the reproductive...
Precocial species are those in which the young are relatively mature and mobile from the moment of birth or hatching. Precocial species are normall...
Soaring birds can maintain flight without wing flapping, using rising air currents. Many gliding birds are able to "lock" their extended wings by m...
Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, b...
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MigratingAnimal migration is the relatively long-distance movement of individual animals, usually on a seasonal basis. It is the most common form of migrati...
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starts withThis small bird is similar in size and some plumage characteristics to the little gull. It is slightly larger and longer winged than the little gull species, and has more-pointed wings and a wedge-shaped tail. Its legs are red. Summer adults are pale grey above and white below, with a pink flush to the breast, and a neat black neck ring. In winter, the breast tints and neck collar are lost and a small dark crescent develops behind the eye.
Young birds resemble winter adults, but have a dark "W" pattern on the wings in flight, like young little gulls. The juveniles take two years to attain full adult plumage.
Ross's gull measurements:
Ross's gull breeds in the high Arctic of northernmost North America, and northeast Siberia. It migrates only short distances south in autumn, most of the population wintering in northern latitudes at the edge of the pack ice in the northern Bering Sea and in the Sea of Okhotsk, although some birds reach more temperate areas, such as north west Europe; in February 2016 they were sighted in Cornwall and Ireland according to the BTOs 'BirdTrack', in December 2021 two were seen in Belgium, one in Nieuwpoort and one in Zeebrugge. In North America, a Ross's gull has been spotted as far south as Salton Sea in California, although sightings this far south are extremely rare. The summer breeding grounds are tundra with sedges, grass tussocks, dwarf willows, bushes, lichens and pools.
The Ross's gull breeds in small colonies on tundras and swampy Arctic estuaries, often nesting with other seabirds such as Arctic terns. It lays two to three eggs in a nest on the ground lined with seaweed, grass or moss, often on an island in a little lake. The eggs are olive green with small reddish-brown spots. Incubation takes about three weeks and the chicks fledge in another three weeks. Not all pairs successfully rear their young as predators and bad weather often take their toll.
This bird will eat any suitable small prey such as small fish and crustaceans, and during the winter often feeds on mudflats like a wader. During the breeding season it is largely insectivorous, feeding on beetles and flies.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...