Kelp Gull Larus dominicus
Baylyss Beach, North Island, New Zealand
Culmen: 52.2 mm, total: 118.6 mm, unsexed adult
Laridae
South American, Southern African, Oriental and Australasian Gulls
A smaller portion of the worlds gull population, about 15 species, inhabit the southern hemisphere. In general most of them are of the same types that can be found on the northern part of the globe: a few large black-backed gulls, very similar to their northern equivalents and species with different shades of grey plumages, black heads and hoods. They also show a considerable variation in bill colors and patterns. Nevertheless: some species are rather peculiar and unlike any of the northern gulls, such as the Pacific Gull with its huge bill and the equally large, but fairy like Swallow-tailed Gull and the dark Lava Gull from the Galapagos.
Identification is not as complicated because of the relatively small number of species, but one should always be aware of migrants and vagrants from the northern hemisphere. Southern gulls do not migrate to the North in the southern winter as extensively as their northern antipodes.
Medium to large gulls
Dolphin Gull Larus scoresbii, southern South America, Falkland Is.
Band-tailed or Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri, Pacific coast from Peru to to Chile.
Olrog's Gull Larus atlanticus, Atlantic coast from Uruguay to Argentina.
Lava Gull Larus fuliginosus, Galapagos Is.
Grey Gull Larus modestus, central South American Pacific coast.
Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus, circumpolar Southern Hemisphere. Two (or four) subspecies:
Kelp Gull L. d. dominicanus, Australia, New Zealand, South America
Cape Gull L. d. vetula, southern Africa
Kerguelen Kelp Gull L. d. judithae (proposed), Kerguelen, Crozet Is, Heard (?), Marion and Pr. Edward Is.
Malagasy Kelp Gull, L. d. melisandae (proposed), Madagascar.
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Kelp Gull Larus dominicus Baylyss Beach, North Island, New Zealand Culmen: 52.2 mm, total: 118.6 mm, unsexed adult |
Pacific Gull Larus Pacificus, South Australia
Lesser to small gulls
Genus Larus
Grey-headed Gull Larus cirrocephalus, two subspecies on each side of southern Atlantic:
L. c. cirrocephalus, southern South America, dispersing to Pacific coast.
L. c. poicephalus, east and west coast of Africa, dispersing inland.
Brown-hooded Gull Larus maculipennis, southern South America, coastal and inland.
Andean Gull Larus serranus, western South America from northern Equador to northern Chile.
Hartlaub's or King Gull Larus hartlaubi, coastal South Africa from Namibia to Cape Province.
Silver Gull Larus novaehollandiae, two subspecies:
L. n. novaehollandiae, New Caledonia and North Australia.
L. n. forsteri, South Australia and Tasmania.
Red-billed Gull Larus scopulinus, New Zealand.
Black-billed Gull Larus bulleri, New Zealand.
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Grey-headed Gull
Larus cirrocephalus South Africa Culmen:33,8 mm; 82.3 mm, unsexed adult |
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Silver Gull Larus novaehollandiae ssp forsteri, Teal Island, Coorong, Australia Culmen: 31.7 mm; total 79.6 mm, unsexed adult |
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Red-billed Gull Larus scopulinus Spirits Bay, North Island, New Zealand Culmen: 33.6 mm; total: 77.3 mm, unsexed adult |
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Black-billed Gull Larus bulleri Long Beach, South Island, New Zealand Culmen: 34.5 mm, total: 80.8 mm, unsexed adult |
Non-Larus Gulls
Swallow-tailed Gull Creagrus furcatus, Galapagos Islands dispersing along South American Pacific coast.
