Nature Moments: Why Gulls Keep Changing Their Appearance
Gulls are extraordinarily variable in the way they look. The color of an individual’s plumage, legs, and eyes reveals not only what species it is, but also its age, condition and social status.
In this latest Nature Moments video, Bowdoin’s Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor of Natural Sciences Nathaniel T. Wheelwright, explains why this makes evolutionary sense, and why we are NOT to call them “seagulls.”
If you want to make your own natural history observations, The Naturalist’s Notebookby Wheelwright and Bernd Heinrich (Storey Publishing, 2017) provide guidance and a systematic format, with 100 percent of royalties going to conservation and environmental education.
