GULLS and TERNS OF THE WORLD
Many years ago, when I first started birding abroad, I set myself a target to see all the gull species in the world,
primarily as a focus in
deciding where to travel. This is because they are one of only a few bird families which breed on every continent. I achieved my aim several years ago,
although
there are one or two which I haven't managed a decent photograph of, such as the newly-split Short-billed Gull; two of the most attractive gulls I've only seen
as vagrants to Britain, namely Ivory
and Ross's. Obviously Ann and I have co-incidentally seen most terns as well, so I've included these. Gull taxonomy seems to be in a permanent state of
flux, I believe I have seen all potential future splits, but the total number has increased by at least five species since I started my quest. The taxonomic order has also
changed, with several new genera, this is reflected in the latest update, March 2022.
