Laughing Gull Observed Eating Reptile

Published in 1987

On 6 May 1983 on the grassy airstrip at Ft. Morgan, Baldwin Co., Ala., Bob Brown, Greg Jackson, Venetia Friend, Cecil Kilmer, Robert Duncan and I observed an adult Laughing Gull (Larus atricilla) attempting to swallow a legless reptile, possibly a snake or large Eastern Glass Lizard (Ophisaurus ventralis). The reptile was partially ingested with about 180 to 230 mm (seven to nine inches) of its tail protruding from the bird’s mouth. We observed the bird for a few minutes, then left and returned a short time later to find it being pursued in flight by a Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), with the reptile still dangling from its mouth.


Author: Scot Duncan
Volume Number: 34 Year Published: 1987
Issue Number: 1
Page Number: 6

Link to article: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1987/Vol 34 No. 1_1987_p6.pdf
Link to the full issue of BirdLife: http://birdlife.aosbirds.org/1987/Vol 34 No. 1_1987.pdf