Wildlife of the Galapagos Islands Photo Gallery - Swallow-tailed and Lava Gulls

Galápagos Islands
Swallow-tailed and Lava Gulls


	Two species of gulls are fairly unique to the Galapagos: Lava Gull and Swallow-tailed Gull. These Lava Gulls, distinguished by their dark gray bodies, nest in small, loosely formed colonies in the bays and salt water lagoons of Santa Cruz, San Cristobal and Isabella islands. They are scavengers, feeding on dead organisms in the water, raiding nests of other birds, and freshly hatched lizards and turtles. There are less than 1000 Lava Gulls in the Galapagos, making these perhaps the rarest gulls on earth.
	The Swallow-tailed gull is the only gull to feed only at night. Its night-adapted eyes allow it to feed miles from shore on fish and squid it captures from the surface of the ocean. It lays only one egg on the cliffs of all the Galapagos islands except Fernandina and Isabella.