I don't know how delicious sea stars are that gulls spend so much effort to eat them, but they must be super duper tasty! Or not, because gulls.
Glaucous-winged Gull (Larus glaucescens)
These coastal northern Pacific natives are some of the absolute units of the gull world being in between crow and goose sized (think raven-ish sized). They aren't picky eaters and will consume anything they think is edible and are clever enough to perform the ol' fly up high and drop maneuver to break open shelled meals. Fish, invertebrates, dead things, chips, some vegetation, garbage, babies (birds... mostly), small mammals, it's all delish to them! They don't seem to be too picky during mating time either as there are a couple common hybrids that can make up a substantial chunk of the population in some areas. These are the Western x Glaucous-winged (a.k.a. the Olympic gull) and the Herring x Glaucous-winged (Cook Inlet gull).
Maybe they are the garbage disposals of the beach! I love to feed them bread in the parking lots. Some are so dominant when eating! I try to throw as much bread in every direction to give them all a sporting chance to eat!
You present some great artwork and nature facts! Thank you!
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