Laridae
Pacific Gull
Larus pacificus
The Great Yellow Bill
- Length
- 63 cm
- Wingspan
- 147 cm
- Family
- Laridae
Identification
A heavy, almost monumental gull of the southern coasts. Adults have a white head and body, a black back, and a massive yellow bill tipped with scarlet. Yellow legs. Juveniles are mottled brown for years and still dwarf every Silver Gull on the beach. If you think 'that gull is too big,' it is this one.
Distinctive marks
- Massive yellow bill with a red spot
- Black back in adults
- Yellow legs
- Much larger than a Silver Gull
- Heavy, unhurried walk
Behaviour & ecology
They work the Peninsula beaches and rock platforms for crabs, mussels, and whatever the tide leaves, often dropping shellfish onto stone. Less interested in chips than their silver cousins, though not above them. Usually in ones and twos, not in a screaming crowd.
Voice
A deep, laughing 'ow-ow-ow' and a hoarse bark. Lower and slower than a Silver Gull's mew.
On the Peninsula
Ocean and bay beaches of the Peninsula, Western Port mudflats, and the rock platforms at low tide. A true coastal bird; rare inland.
Season
Year-round. Winter beaches after a blow are a good hour.
Diet
Crabs, mussels, fish, carrion, and the odd unattended sandwich.
Conservation
Secure in the south, though they need undisturbed roosting spits.
Lore & resonance
The bill is a tool the colour of a warning. A Pacific Gull on a rock at low tide looks as if the continent had sent a single, serious bird to keep the silver ones in order.
If you would attract them
Leave the upper beach and the roosting rocks. They will not come to a yard. The journal is kept from a wall, at a turning tide.
