The yellow-footed gull (Larus livens ) is a large gull, closely related to the western gull and thought to be a subspecies until the 1960s. It is endemic to the Gulf of California.
A piscivore is a carnivorous animal that eats primarily fish. Piscivorous is equivalent to the Greek-derived word ichthyophagous. Fish were the die...
Scavengers are animals that consume dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While sc...
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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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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withAdults are similar in appearance to the western gull with a white head, dark, slate-colored back and wings, and a thick yellow bill. Its legs are yellow, though first winter birds do display pink legs like those of the western gull. It attains full plumage at three years of age.
This species is tied with slaty-backed gull for the world's fourth-largest gull species and is one of the largest gulls in the world, being slightly larger than the western gull. It measures 53 to 72 cm (21 to 28 in) in length and spans 140 to 160 cm (55 to 63 in) across the wings. The body mass of this species can vary from 930 to 1,500 g (2.05 to 3.31 lb). Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 40 to 46 cm (16 to 18 in), the bill is 5.0 to 6.2 cm (2.0 to 2.4 in) and the tarsus is 5.9 to 7.5 cm (2.3 to 3.0 in).
Yellow-footed gulls are native to the Gulf of California in Mexico. Most are non-migratory, but an increasing number have been traveling to California's Salton Sea and southwards to Sonora during nonbreeding periods. Their breeding habitat is the Gulf of California, where they nest, in April, either independently or in colonies. They are found on sandy and rocky coasts or islands, often with little vegetation.
The birds are scavengers as well as foragers, feeding on small fish and invertebrates, carcases of marine mammals and offal, and preying upon seabird chicks and eggs (including pelican eggs). They sometimes scavenge around waste dumps and docks for refuse but seldom fly far inland.
Yellow-footed gulls nest on the beach, a few metres above the upper limits of the highest tides. A pair of birds defends a small territory between the nest and the sea. The nest is a scrape in the sand with a meagre lining of seaweed or dry plant material. Usually, three eggs are laid, olive or buff in color with dark blotches, and incubation is probably done by both parents. The young are fully fledged and leave the nest when they are about seven weeks old.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...