Sabine's gull treated as comprising a monotypic genus; it is only placed within the genus "Larus" when the genus is enlarged. The black bill and notched tail are almost unique within the gulls, as they are shared only with the swallow-tailed gull of the Galapagos. On the basis of this the two species were often thought to be each other's closest relatives, a hypothesis ruled out by a number of behaviour and ecological differences. Mitochondrial DNA studies confirmed that they are not closely related, and the closest relative of the Sabine's gull is now thought to be the ivory gull, another Arctic
Western gull games. They swarm the field, defecate on fans, and after games eat leftovers of stadium food in the seats; how the birds know when games are about to end is unknown. The gulls left while a red-tailed hawk visited the park in late 2011, but returned after the hawk disappeared. Federal law prohibits shooting the birds, and hiring a falconer would cost the Giants $8000 a game. The western gull was one of the antagonists in Alfred Hitchcock's famous movie "The Birds" which was filmed in Bodega Bay, California. Western gull The western gull ("Larus occidentalis") is a large white-headed