Common Names: Silver Gull, Seagull, Common Seagull
Species: Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae
Family: LARIDAE
The Silver Gull (Chroicocephalus novaehollandiae) is commonly referred to as just 'Seagulls' by many Australians and is the bane of many a picnic along the coastline. Master scavengers, they tend to surround you when you're sitting on the grass enjoying some greasy deep fried, heavily salted chips. That's exactly what this one was doing today, it looks a little frustrated though, perhaps it was annoyed that I wasn't going to feed it. This one's an adult, juveniles will normally still have some of their brown juvenile feathers and their legs will be more yellow. When not stealing chips from locals and tourists alike, Silver Gulls enjoy feeding on small fish, insects, small crustaceans and any type of marine or terrestrial worm they can find. Their numbers are greatest where they co-inhabit with humans, similar to other human-food scavenging birds such as Pigeons.
