Olrog's gull (''Larus atlanticus'') is a species of

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century, ...

found along the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast of southern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

, and northern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

. It was formerly considered a subspecies of the very similar '' L. belcheri''. It is a large gull with a black back and wings, white head and underparts, a black band in the otherwise white tail, and a yellow bill with a red and black tip. Nonbreeding adults have a blackish head and a white eye ring. The species is named after Swedish-Argentine biologist

Claes C. Olrog Claës Christian Olrog (25 November 1912 – 29 November 1985) was a Swedish-born ornithologist who worked in Argentina. He published ''Las Aves Argentinas'' (1959) which was one of the first field guides for Argentina. Olrog was born in Stockholm ...

. It has a rather restricted breeding range and is threatened by

habitat loss Habitat destruction (also termed habitat loss and habitat reduction) is the process by which a natural habitat becomes incapable of supporting its native species. The organisms that previously inhabited the site are displaced or dead, thereby ...

, and the IUCN has rated it as being "

near threatened A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

Description

Olrog's gull is a large gull with a white head, neck, rump, breast, and belly. The back and wings are black except for a white trailing edge to the wings. The tail is white with a broad black band at the back. The beak is yellow with a black band and red tip. The eyes are brown with a red orbital ring and the legs and feet are dull yellow. The length of this gull is and it has a wingspan of . Males are a little larger than females. Juveniles have black heads and brownish plumage.

Distribution

Olrog's gull is native to the Atlantic coast of Argentina, Uruguay, and southern Brazil. It breeds at a very limited number of colonies between 38.49° and 45.11°S, about two-thirds of which are in the estuary of the Bahia Blanca River. It nests on the ground just above high-water mark, on low islands and islets. At other times, it is to be seen on rocky coasts, harbours, beaches, coastal lagoons, brackish water, and estuaries.

Behavior

During the breeding season, Olrog's gull feeds largely on crabs, which are picked up from the exposed shore or the seabed while walking or swimming, or dipping under the surface of shallow water. This particular diet gives the gull its name in its native range: ''gaviota cangrejera'', or crab-eater gull. At other times of year, it supplements its crab diet with

bivalve molluscs Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, biva ...

and

polychaete worms Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are ma ...

. Other prey items include insects, gastropod molluscs, fish, and fish waste, and the birds sometimes visit sewage outlets and refuse dumps. Breeding starts in September and October. Olrog's gull is

monogamous Monogamy ( ) is a form of dyadic relationship in which an individual has only one partner during their lifetime. Alternately, only one partner at any one time ( serial monogamy) — as compared to the various forms of non-monogamy (e.g., polyg ...

and nests in dense colonies. The nest is on rock, sand, or shingle and is usually lined with vegetation, but sometimes with seaweed, feathers, shells or bones. Two or three olive-brown eggs with brown splotches are laid and the incubation period is about 30 days. Fledging takes place between November and January according to the location of the colony.

References

External links

BirdLife Species Factsheet.
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1273165 Olrog's gull Birds of Argentina Southeastern South American coastal fauna Near threatened animals Near threatened biota of South America Olrog's gull Taxonomy articles created by Polbot