Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus) lives in coastal areas across Southern Hemisphere. It feeds on fish and carrion. Its conservation status is Least Concern.
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A kelp gull can stretch up to 65 cm long, about the height of a kitchen countertop, and its wings can span as far as 1.42 m, roughly the length of a small car. Adults weigh between 540 g and 1.39 kg, with males averaging 1 kg and females 900 g. Their wing chord measures 37.3-44.8 cm, bills 4.4-5.9 cm and tarsi 5.3-7.5 cm. These dimensions place the gull squarely between the lesser and great black-backed gulls of the North Atlantic.
The African form of the kelp gull, often called the Cape gull, sports a sharper head and a shorter bill than its southern-hemisphere cousins, and its eyes are dark instead of pale. In Southern Africa the population is booming, with an estimated 11,000 breeding pairs now occupying the coast, and the numbers are still climbing.
Kelp gulls have turned southern right-whale calves into a buffet, pecking centimeters into skin and blubber and leaving sores up to half a metre across. Since 2003 scientists have recorded 605 whale deaths at Península Valdés, 88 % of them newborns, and monitoring from 1995-2008 showed gulls attacking mother-calf pairs in 88 % of observations. The proportion of whales bearing gull-inflicted marks rose from 1 % in 1974 to 76.8 % in 2008, a stark illustration of how a scavenger can become a lethal predator when food is abundant on land.
Unlike many birds that hunt, kelp gulls are opportunistic omnivores that flock to landfills, turning trash into a buffet. Their numbers swell wherever rubbish piles up, so a sudden rise in gull colonies is a red flag that the surrounding environment is losing its natural balance. By watching gull populations, scientists can gauge how much human waste is polluting coastal ecosystems.
A kelp gull builds a shallow ground nest lined with vegetation and feathers, then the female lays two or three speckled eggs. Both parents take turns feeding the chicks until they fledge, but the youngsters don't leave the nest until they're three to four years old.
Sources
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As the Kelp Gull soars over the rugged coastline, its sleek, grey-brown form undulates on the updrafts of air, its piercing cry echoing off the waves as it scans the rocky shores for its next meal. With a fluid, effortless motion, it dives and swoops, its wings beating in a slow, powerful rhythm as it plies the turbulent interface between sea and land. In this unforgiving yet majestic landscape, the Kelp Gull reigns supreme, a master of adaptability and opportunism, its very presence a testament to the enduring power of life in the harshest of environments.
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