Home > Illustration > Wildlife > Birds > Shorebirds > Heermann's Gull

Heermann's Gull

Heermann's Gull line art illustration (click image to enlarge)

Heermann's Gull full color illustration (click image to enlarge)

Artist's notes:

The Heermann's Gull illustration was completed on 5/17/2011. On a recent trip to Monterey, I noticed these handsome birds for the first time. At one time, I thought gulls were pretty much the same, but this species had a different coloration from the others. I believe the bird I saw might have been in breeding colors. At any rate, I thought it might make a good drawing. The illustration is based on a photo by Roger Zachary.

Information about the Heermann's Gull:

Heerman's Gull is native to North America, specifically in the US, Mexico and parts of British Columbia in Canada. There is thought to be about 150,000 mated pair in the world, and most of these nest on the island of Isla Rosa near Baja, California. Unlike other seagulls, these birds tend to stick close to the shoreline and venture inland very infrequently, and they are also mostly quiet and tend not to call out as other gulls do. They are extremely opportunistic feeders, and will eat small invertebrates, fish,  reptiles, crustaceans, other birds and birds eggs and refuse cast off by humans. They are mostly found near rocky or sandy ocean shores, and in the pelagic or open ocean zones. The Heermann’s Gull is named for Dr. Aldolphus Heermann, who was a surgeon and naturalist on a U.S. survey team in the West in the 1850’s.