Melanie McGiffin, age 12, of Newport Beach, Calif., for her question:
DOES THE GULL LIVE ONLY NEAR OCEANS?
About 35 different kinds of terns are found in different parts of the world. The tern is a sea bird that is famous for its power of flight. In North America, 14 different kinds can be found, with most of them living along seacoasts, rivers and lakes rather than
in the open sea. The handsome tern is related to the gull but he is classified into a separate family.
Gulls are long winged birds about the size of pigeons. Most of the adults are pearly gray above and white below, although some species are black, brown or completely gray.
Gulls are found swooping over most large bodies of water. Although most of them like the ocean, some of the gulls can also be found living far inland over or near water that is hundreds of miles from the sea. They definitely do not restrict themselves to living only near oceans.
Gulls look less graceful in flight than their cousins, the terns, but they are better swimmers. Some ocean gulls rest by floating on the water.
In North America, the ring billed gull can be found on the coasts and also in the Mississippi Valley. The herring gull, a large, white bird that is seen in both Atlantic and Pacific ports, is also seen on inland waters.
Many gulls live on the Great Lakes. Others are regularly found living near the Great Salt Lake in Utah. In fact, the residents of Salt Lake City have erected a monument to the gulls that destroyed millions of grasshoppers in 1848 and saved the crops of the settlers living in that far from the ocean location.
The Franklin's gull can be found in the upper Mississippi valley and also living on the plains and near the marshy lakes of the Middle West.
Gulls eat fish and other water animals, insects, rotten meat and the eggs and young of other birds. Also, those living around harbors and shore waters become useful scavengers.
Gulls as scavengers have been noted by many steamship passengers. Great flocks of gulls often follow ships for hours, waiting for food or garbage to be tossed overboard. The birds then dive down eagerly to the water and pick up a floating meal.
There are about 43 different kinds of gulls in various parts of the world.
Gulls are excellent soarers and are able to ride updrafts from the waves, dunes or cliffs. Over water, the birds circle until they spot some floating object that might be food. Sometimes they pick it off the water in flight but they usually land next to it.
Although they swim well, gulls cannot swim underwater nor dive under the surface as their cousins the terns do.