The dolphin gull (''Leucophaeus scoresbii''), sometimes erroneously called the

red-billed gull The red-billed gull (''Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae scopulinus''), also known as tarāpunga and as the mackerel gull, is a native gull, seagull of New Zealand, being found throughout the country and on outlying islands including the Chatham I ...

(a somewhat similar but unrelated species from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

), is a gull native to southern

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

and

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

, and the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

. It is a coastal bird inhabiting rocky, muddy and sandy shores and is often found around

seabird Seabirds (also known as marine birds) are birds that are adaptation, adapted to life within the marine ecosystem, marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent ...

colonies. They have greyish

feather Feathers are epidermal growths that form a distinctive outer covering, or plumage, on both avian (bird) and some non-avian dinosaurs and other archosaurs. They are the most complex integumentary structures found in vertebrates and an exa ...

s, and the feathers on their wings are a darker shade. Dolphin gulls have a varied diet, eating many things ranging from

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and Freshwater bivalve, freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other ...

s to

carrion Carrion (), also known as a carcass, is the decaying flesh of dead animals. Overview Carrion is an important food source for large carnivores and omnivores in most ecosystems. Examples of carrion-eaters (or scavengers) include crows, vultures ...

. The modern scientific name ''Leucophaeus scoresbii'', together with the obsolete common name Scoresby's gull, commemorates the English explorer

William Scoresby William Scoresby (5 October 178921 March 1857) was an English whaler, Arctic explorer, scientist and clergyman. Early years Scoresby was born in the village of Cropton near Pickering south-west of Whitby in Yorkshire. His father, Willia ...

(1789–1857).

Distribution

The dolphin gull is found round the coasts of Chile, Argentina and the Falkland Islands. It is a vagrant to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is found on rocky coasts and in the vicinity of other colonies of seabirds, slaughterhouses, sewage outflows and farmyards.

Behaviour

The dolphin gull is a

scavenger Scavengers are animals that consume Corpse decomposition, dead organisms that have died from causes other than predation or have been killed by other predators. While scavenging generally refers to carnivores feeding on carrion, it is also a he ...

and opportunistic

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

. It feeds on carrion, offal, bird eggs, nestlings, marine invertebrates and other natural food. When humans disturb nesting seabirds, it takes advantage of the absence of adult birds to raid their vacated nests. It was found that excluding humans from areas where cormorants were nesting increased the reproductive success of the

cormorants Phalacrocoracidae is a family of approximately 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed, but in 2021 the International Ornithologists' Union (IOU) ado ...

. It also takes advantage of the activities of marine mammals to scavenge for dead fish, placentae and faeces, which are a major attraction. Dolphin Gull - Leucophaeus scoresbii - Immature

Dolphin Gull - Leucophaeus scoresbii - Immature

Dolphin gulls nest in small colonies of up to 200 pairs and are usually on low cliffs, sand or shingle beaches, headlands or marshy depressions. Two to three eggs are laid in December and the chicks fledge in March. The older chicks gather together in crèches.

Status

The dolphin gull is listed by the

IUCN The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the status ...

as being of "

Least Concern A least-concern species is a species that has been evaluated and categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as not being a focus of wildlife conservation because the specific species is still plentiful in the wil ...

". This is because it has a very wide range, has a stable population and an estimated total population of 10,000 to 28,000 individuals.

References

External links

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q886789 dolphin gull Birds of Patagonia Birds of Tierra del Fuego Birds of the Falkland Islands Fauna of Temperate South America dolphin gull dolphin gull Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN Least concern biota of South America