One of the more widespread southern hemisphere gulls, the nominate race of the Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus dominicanus occurs along the coasts of South America, New Zealand, Australia and many islands in the Southern Ocean. The subspecies found along the southern African coastline, L. d. vetula, is sometimes split into a full species, Larus vetula, with the English name of “Cape Gull”. Confusingly different guide-books within South Africa itself treat the taxon differently: the seventh edition of Roberts ‘Birds of South Africa” (2005) groups all the subspecies within Kelp Gull, while the popular SASOL Third Edition (2005) treats it as a full species. The most recent checklist produced by the African Bird Club maintains vetula as a subspecies though, so perhaps it’s wisest to stick with Kelp Gull for the time being…

According to http://web.uct.ac.za/depts/stats/adu/species/sp312_00.htm “Kelp Gulls breed in Namibia and South Africa; there are large colonies between Cape Cross and the islands in Algoa Bay, with occasional nests recorded as far north as Cape Fria and as far east as the Great Fish River. Along the west coast, nonbreeding birds occur north to Luanda, Angola, and along the east coast as far as the Limpopo River mouth in Mozambique. Apart from around the Greater Cape Town area, Kelp Gulls seldom occur more than a few kilometres inland. Records of black-backed gulls in the interior of southern Africa, and along the coastline of northern Mozambique, are far more likely to be Lesser Blackbacked Gulls L. fuscus from the Palearctic than Kelp Gulls.”

These photographs were all taken on a trip to Cape Town, March 2009 and show the form L d. vetula: many were in heavy moult.

Adult breeding Kelp Gulls, Strandfontein Sewage Works

 

Adult Kelp Gulls (note heavily streaked non-breeding bird upper left)
with African Black Oystercatchers Haematopus moquini

 

Adult breeding Kelp Gulls, Strandfontein Sewage Works

 

Adult Kelp Gull, Strand Beach

 

Adult Kelp Gull in heavy moult, Strand Beach

 

Ist year Kelp Gull, Strand Beach

 

All photographs copyright Charlie Moores