Swallow-tailed gulls - can they find their way home

Native to the Galapagos Islands

Text and photos by Winston "Rocky" Rockwell

The Swallow-tailed gull is not only exceedingly rare in this hemisphere (the only other two sightings in North America occurred in California in the 1980s), it is also the only gull that feeds exclusively at night.

A very unique bird indeed!

Nest on rocky cliffs on the Galapagos Islands

To be honest, I'm not sure it will be able to get back to the Galapagos. The bird is able to travel that far - it spends most of its life over open ocean, and can forage by night and land on water to sleep by day - but I don't know if it has any clue which way "home" is...