Openbill

Appearance

There are two types here, the Silver Gull and the Sooty Gull, the difference being only in the darker plumage color and the preferred habitat. The bird's legs are yellowish with orange, and make up a large part of the total body size. Another important feature of the Gull-billed Tern, which also gave it its name, is the characteristic gap between the upper and lower beak. This is used to hold shells in place in order to crack them open on a stone.

Habitat of the Gull-billed Tern

This depends on the species, the black Sooty Gull is mainly found in southern Africa and on the island of Madagascar, while the Silver Gull lives more in Southeast Asia. An important factor for the habitat of these animals is the proximity to water, which can be a lake, a slow-flowing body of water or even a man-made cattle trough. Here the Gull-billed Tern finds its preferred food, which consists of mussels, mollusks, snails or even crabs. In some cases, the birds have also been observed eating fish or amphibians when the menu had nothing else to offer.

Lifestyle

The Gull-billed Tern usually lives with a fixed partner, sharing the rearing of the young and the search for food, especially during the breeding season. Up to three young birds can be raised here each year, which are fed and protected by the parents until they are fledged. Once this is the case, the parent birds fly across the equator to the south, where they meet other adult animals of their species to spend the dry season together.