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Gulls and Terns belong to the sub-order LARI and the family of LARIDAE and STERNA.
These birds are feet webed and migrators, they live in colony. Sometimes the colony iS very large and sometimes only a few pairs make the colony. When they are in migration they stay a short time at the shore of lakes.
These birds are scattered almost everywhere on the earth. Some species of these birds only pass from Iran, both north and south of Iran on their passage. Some species come to Iran for oviposition.
Their food is especially fishes but they eat any kind of things such as insects. In this respect we can say they are useful birds.
These birds are very noisy, especially in breeding season one can hear their noise from quite a long distance.
Their wings are very long so that they can fly very well, they are not good swimmers because their feet are very small and weak.
They use vegetable materials for nidification and sometimes they do not make a nest and they lay the eggs in small cavities. Nestlings are nidifugus and are covered with longish soft down and are fed some short period of their life by parents.
They can be domesticated very soon and we can say that these birds are most familiar of all sea birds.
These birds have different coloration in different seasons. Adults, juveniles, males and females have different colors.
In Iran the birds of the genus LARUS are called t1Kakaii” and small birds in the family LARIDAE are called “Geghgegheh”.