Slaty-backed gull facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Slaty-backed gull |
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| Genus: |
Larus
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| Species: |
schistisagus
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The slaty-backed gull (Larus schistisagus) is a large type of gull with a white head. It lives and breeds along the northeastern coast of Asia. When it's not breeding season, this gull travels to many different places. It looks a lot like the western gull and the glaucous-winged gull. Sometimes people call it the Pacific gull, but there's another gull with that name that lives in the Southern Hemisphere. This bird has been seen in North America and along the eastern coast of Asia. In 2012, one was even spotted in Finland, which was very rare for Europe.
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About the Slaty-backed Gull
This gull is one of the largest gull species. It can be as long as 55 to 68.5 centimeters (about 21 to 27 inches). Its wings can spread out from 132 to 160 centimeters (about 52 to 63 inches). It usually weighs between 1.05 and 1.7 kilograms (about 2.3 to 3.7 pounds).
What Does It Look Like?
The slaty-backed gull has a white head, belly, and tail. Its back and wings are a dark, slaty-gray color. The edges of its wings have a wide white stripe. Its wings and back are a bit darker than those of the western gull.
When this bird flies, you can see a special pattern on the underside of its wings. It looks like a "string of pearls" along the edges. Its eyes are yellow. The legs are pink and shorter than those of other gulls that look similar. This gull also looks a bit more solid or "stout."
Its bill (beak) is yellow. Near the end of the bill, there's an orange-red spot. This spot is important because baby gulls peck at it to tell their parents they are hungry. This makes the parent bird bring up food for them.
Young Gulls
Young slaty-backed gulls have brown feathers. They look similar to young great black-backed gulls, but their feathers are lighter. It can be very hard to tell them apart from young herring gulls when you see them in nature.
What's in a Name?
The word Larus comes from an old Latin word. This word was used to describe a gull or another large seabird. The second part of its scientific name, schistisagus, comes from two words. Schistus means "slate" (like the color of its back). Sagus means "cloak" in Latin. So, its name basically means "slate-cloaked gull."
Images for kids
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A slaty-backed gull showing the "string of pearls" pattern on its wings.
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