Birdwatch: why the 'king among gulls' is a true heavyweight

Though gulls can be hard to tell apart, the great black-backed gull is rarely mistaken for anything elseFor many people, gulls are at best ignored, and at worst hated. Even some birders dismiss them, perhaps because they can be tricky to tell apart, especially in their varied immature plumages.But when you see an adult great black-backed gull, you are unlikely to mistake it for anything else. As one early American writer noted, this is "the king among gulls, a merciless tyrant ? No weaker gull dares intrude upon its feudal domain." Continue reading...