Skimmers, noddies, terns and gulls | Laridae

Meeuwen, sterns en schaarbekken | Gaviotas, charranes y rayadores | Skimmers, noddies, terns and gulls

Webbed front toes and a small, raised hind toe: these birds can rest on the water, and salt glands above the eyes let them drink sea water as well. Forty-three species in seventeen genera occur in this guide, among them some remarkable ones: the Andean Gull breeds by lakes high in the Andes, the Inca Tern lives along the cold Humboldt Current, the Lava Gull is found only on the Galápagos and the Galápagos Swallow-tailed Gull is the only gull that hunts at sea by night, while Black Skimmer, Large-billed Tern and Yellow-billed Tern fish along the great lowland rivers. Two builds stand side by side within the family: heavier birds with a stout, slightly hooked bill that will eat almost anything they can get hold of, and slighter birds with a thin, pointed bill held downwards while hovering, before they drop into the water. They nest almost always in ground colonies, with one to three blotched eggs; the downy chicks stay at the nest and are fed by both parents, unlike the self-feeding young of the waders. Most species moult twice a year and show a different head pattern in winter, and in the largest species it takes two to four years before the adult plumage is complete.