Drinking gulls

[Russ Carlson]

I need to know how gulls (particularly Ring-billed gulls, Larus delawarensis) drink water. I have watched them drink when swimming. They seem to dip almost all of their beak into the water and sort of ‘gulp’ the water. My question is how do they drink from shallow water, less than the depth of their beak?

Any anecdotal comments or references to published information would be greatly appreciated.

--
Russ Carlson
Bear, DE USA

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Russ,

Welcome to BirdForum!

From what I've seen them do, they scoop the water up into the lower mandible, and then tip their head back to let the water run down the throat.

Uptake might be assisted by capillary action between the tongue and lower mandible, but I don't know this for certain. This should help in very shallow water.

Michael

[Russ Carlson]

From what I've seen them do, they scoop the water up into the lower mandible, and then tip their head back to let the water run down the throat.

Uptake might be assisted by capillary action between the tongue and lower mandible, but I don't know this for certain. This should help in very shallow water.

Michael


Thanks, Michael. That’s what I've seen. What I'm concerned about is birds in rehab that have only an inch or two of water in a dish. Is that sifficient for them to drink? It may bear more watching.

Russ

[Michael Frankis]

Hi Russ,

That should be plenty - I've seen them drink from half-inch deep puddles.

Michael