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Swallow-Tailed Gull

Creagrus furcatus               Laridae

Distribution: Endemic to the Galápagos Islands except for a small colony on Malpelo Island off the west coast of Colombia.

Appearance:  Gulls are medium-sized to largish seabirds with long, pointed wings and longish, rather stout, hook-tipped bills, usually with a marked gonydeal angle. Their legs are longish and their feet webbed.  C. furcatus is unmistakable; the only common whitish gull with a distinctive forked tail. Adult: Upper parts and neck grey; under parts white. In breeding plumage has dark grey head, large eye with red eye-ring, and black bill with pale base and tip. 51 – 58 cm (20 – 22.8 in).

Diet: Gulls feed by picking food from the surface of the water or by scavenging, often along the shoreline. Feeds mostly nocturnally, usually several miles from land. Flight is bouyant and tern-like.