One of my acrylic paintings this one is of a seagull in flight
Gulls and seagulls are seabirds of the subfamily Larinae. They are most closely related to terns and skimmers, distantly related to auks, and even more distantly related to waders. Until the 21st century, most gulls were placed in the genus Larus, but that arrangement is now considered polyphyletic, leading to the resurrection and revision of several genera.[1] An older name for gulls is mews; this still exists in certain regional English dialects and is cognate with German Möwe, Danish måge, Swedish mås, Dutch meeuw, Norwegian måke/måse, and French mouette.[2][3][4]
Gulls are usually grey or white, often with black markings on the head or wings. They normally have harsh wailing or squawking calls, stout bills, and webbed feet. Most gulls are ground-nesting piscivores or carnivores which take live food or scavenge opportunistically, particularly the Larusspecies. Live food often includes crustaceans, molluscs, fish and small birds. Gulls' jaws can unhinge to allow them to consume large prey. They are typically coastal or inland species, rarely venturing far out to sea, except the kittiwakes and Sabine's gull.[5] The large species take up to four years to attain full adult plumage, but two years is typical for small gulls. Large white-headed gulls are usually long-lived birds, with a maximum age of 49 years recorded for the European herring gull.[6]
