Order: Gulls, Terns, & Lapwings

Silver Gull standing on a rock

The Silver Gull is the most common gull found in Australia. It is most common in coastal areas but can be found throughout the continent. They use a variety of habitats, from sandy and rocky shores to garbage dumps, and breed on small islands. Their diet is as varied as their habitats. The Silver Gull…

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A Masked Lapwing in the water

The Masked Lapwing is also known as the Spur-winged Plover because of a unique feature: each of its wings has a yellow spur at the “elbow” (carpal joint) used to keep predators away from nests and chicks. Masked Lapwings are common throughout Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, and New Zealand, where they inhabit marshes, mudflats, beaches,…

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Inca Tern

This dark tern with its reddish-orange beak and feat, and striking white moustache, is a resident of the coasts of Peru and Chile where it catches fish in the Humboldt Current. The Inca Tern nests along the Pacific coast on rocky cliffs or guano islands, sometimes utilizing the old nest of a Humboldt Penguin. Reduction…

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In The News

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These Plants Can Turn Your Yard into a Hummingbird Haven (Featuring Insight from National Aviary Ornithologist Bob Mulvihill) | A-Z Animals

According to Bob Mulvihill, a Lead Ornithologist at The National Aviary, hummingbirds and flowers have spent millennia shaping each other.

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Peregrine falcons start incubating clutch of 4 eggs in Cathedral of Learning nest | WPXI

The National Aviary says Carla started incubating her eggs after laying a third one on Sunday afternoon.

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Peregrine falcon clutch of eggs growing in Cathedral of Learning nest | WPXI

The clutch of peregrine falcon eggs is growing up high on the Cathedral of Learning.

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Peregrine falcons on Pitt’s Cathedral of Learning lay first egg of season | CBS News

The National Aviary, which runs a livestream of the nest, said Carla laid the first egg around 4 a.m. on Wednesday. It's the first of up to six, though the average peregrine falcon clutch is four. 

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