Seabirds around fishing vessels

Southern black-backed gull

Larus dominicanus dominicanus

The southern black-backed gull, sometimes also called kelp gull, is very abundant along the coast of New Zealand. It is a subspecies of Larus dominicanus, which is widely distributed around the globe, but this species is distributed only in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

The southern black-backed gull, sometimes also called kelp gull, is very abundant along the coast of New Zealand. It is a subspecies of Larus dominicanus, which is widely distributed around the globe. L. d. dominicanus occurs only in South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Larus dominicanus dominicanus
CC-BY, Dragonfly Science

Mean number of southern black-backed gull recorded around fishing vessels during counts carried out by government observers, binned to 0.4 degree of longitude and latitude. The size of the circle indicates the number of observations, whereas the colour indicates the mean number of birds recorded during counts. Empty circles indicate that no birds were observed. The grey areas indicate water depths of less than 1000 m.

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