glaucous gull

This gull breeds in Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and winters south to shores of the Holarctic.It is migratory, wintering from in the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans as far south as the British Isles and northernmost states of the United States, also on the Great Lakes. A few birds sometimes reach the southern USA and northern Mexico.

File:Wiki-shirokamome.jpg

File:Larus hyperboreus Immature.jpg

This is a large and powerful gull, second-largest of all gull species and very pale in all plumage, with no black on either the wings or the tail. Adults are pale grey above, with a thick, yellow bill. Juveniles are very pale grey with a pink and black bill. This species is considerably larger, bulkier, and thicker-billed than the similar Iceland gull, and can sometimes equal the size of the great black-backed gull, the oft-titled largest gull species. In some areas, glaucous gulls are about the same weight as great black-backed gulls or even heavier, and their maximum weight is greater. They can weigh from {{convert|960|to|2700|g|lb|abbr=on}}, with the sexes previously reported to average {{convert|1.55|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in males and {{convert|1.35|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in females. At the colony on Coats Island in Canada, the gulls are nearly 15% heavier than some other known populations, with a mean weight {{convert|1.86|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in five males and {{convert|1.49|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in seven females. One other study claimed even higher weights for glaucous gulls, as on Wrangel Island, 9 males reportedly averaged {{convert|2.32|kg|lb|abbr=on}} and {{convert|2.1|kg|lb|abbr=on}} in six females, which if accurate, would make the glaucous gull the heaviest gull and shorebird in the world if not (as far as is known) the largest in length on average.Dementiev, G. P. and N. A. Gladkov. (1951). Ptitsi Sovietskogo Soyuza [Birds of the Soviet Union]. Vol. 2. Israel, in 1968.]: Publishing House Sovietskaya Nauka, Moscow, USSR. [English translation by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations, Jerusalem.Weiser, Emily and H. Grant Gilchrist. (2012). Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus), The Birds of North America (P. G. Rodewald, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America: https://birdsna.org/Species-Account/bna/species/glagul. DOI: 10.2173/bna.573 These gulls range from {{convert|55|to|77|cm|in|abbr=on}} in length and can span {{convert|132|to|170|cm|in|abbr=on}}, with some specimens possibly attaining {{convert|182|cm|in|abbr=on}}, across the wings. Among standard measurements, the wing chord is {{convert|40.8|to|50.1|cm|in|abbr=on}}, the bill is {{convert|4.9|to|6.9|cm|in|abbr=on}} and the tarsus is {{convert|6|to|7.7|cm|in|abbr=on}}. They take four years to reach maturity.

The call is a "laughing" cry similar to that of the herring gull, but deeper.

The four recognized subspecies are:

This species of seagull breeds colonially or singly on coasts and cliffs, making a lined nest on the ground or cliff. Normally, two to four light brown eggs with dark brown splotches are laid.

These are omnivores like most Larus gulls, and they eat fish, insects, molluscs, starfish, offal, scraps, eggs, small birds, small mammals, and carrion, as well as seeds, berries, and grains.

File:Grote burgemeester eerste winter-4961707.webm|Glaucous gull at De Cocksdorp, Netherlands

File:Larus hyperboreus-USFWS.jpg|

File:Larus hyperboreus MWNH 0347.JPG|Egg, collection Museum Wiesbaden

File:Glaucous Gull flying with Great Black-backed Gulls.jpg|In flight with great black-backed gulls, Ottawa, Ontario

{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite AllAboutBirds|Glaucous Gull}} (2011)

{{cite book |editor-last=Dunning Jr. |editor-first=John B. |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |year=1992 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-0-8493-4258-5}}

{{cite book |editor-last=Dunning Jr. |editor-first=John B. |title=CRC Handbook of Avian Body Masses |year=2008 |edition=2nd |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-6444-5}}

{{cite book |last1=Harrison |first1=Peter |title=Seabirds: An Identification Guide |year=1991 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=978-0-395-60291-1}}

{{cite book |last1=Olsen |first1=Klaus Malling |last2=Larsson |first2=Hans |title=Gulls of North America, Europe, and Asia |url=https://archive.org/details/gullsofnorthamer0000olse |url-access=registration |year=2004 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0691119977}}

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{{Commons category|Larus hyperboreus}}

{{Wikispecies|Larus hyperboreus}}

• [http://alaska.fws.gov/mbsp/mbm/seabirds/pdf/glgu.pdf Glaucous gull] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527194550/http://alaska.fws.gov/mbsp/mbm/seabirds/pdf/glgu.pdf |date=2010-05-27 }}, Alaska Seabird Information Series
• {{BirdLife|22694343|Larus hyperboreus}}
• {{Avibase|name=Larus hyperboreus}}
• {{InternetBirdCollection|glaucous-gull-larus-hyperboreus}}
• {{VIREO|glaucous+gull}}
• {{IUCN_Map|22694343/166273983|Larus hyperboreus}}
• {{Xeno-canto species|Larus|hyperboreus|Glaucous gull}}
• {{field guide birds of the world|Larus hyperboreus}}

{{Gulls}}

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Category:Larus

Category:Birds of the Arctic

Category:Birds described in 1767

Category:Taxa named by Johan Ernst Gunnerus

Category:Articles containing video clips

Category:Holarctic birds