Amazon Gulls
The Amazon Gull is a common oceanic bird often found along Yuriba's shores. It gets it's name from it's ringing call, the sound compared to the war cries of a raging group of warriors.
Description
Amazon Gulls are an average sized gull, approximately twenty inches in length with a heavy body, long wings, and moderately long necks. Their tails are rounded and legs long, much longer than their often seen companion, the Cobalt-Barred Terns. The Amazon Gull is a white headed bird with reddish grey wings and tail, the undersides of which are white, and a similar grey color to it's legs. Perhaps the most eye catching feature of the bird would be it's red eyes surrounded by a ring of black coloring.
Habitat, Behavior and Diet
Most often found nesting off the Aysuna Cliffs, the Gulls are also found nesting along the cliffs on the southwestern side of the island. Traveling along the shores of the island, the birds are mainly seen near the ocean, but should extremely bad weather arise, they can be seen flocking inward toward the Western Forest, it is assumed they will rest in the grasslands there. Residents have quickly learned to take heed of this movement, for it is only the very worst of storms which will drive them off the cliffs.
Extremely varied in their diet, the gulls will eagerly eat anything from fish and marine and freshwater invertebrates, both alive and already dead, insects and earthworms, rodents, eggs, carrion, offal, reptiles, amphibians, and plant items such as seeds and fruit. The birds will often accompany local fisherwomen out into the open waters, hoping for castoff from the fish cleaning, or to snatch a fish from the nets as they're drawn in. Since the village's founding, the gulls are frequently seen sitting on the rooftops of buildings built along the Maboroshi and Boardwalk, scavenging for food scraps from the market and occasionally pestering the people in the area.
Intelligent and inquisitive, the birds are mostly food driven, willing to explore and seek out opportunities for food, which makes them rather easy to gather to a feeding site should someone wish to attract the birds with a free handout. Rarely taken as pets due to their vocal tendencies, a few of the fishing boats will still pick up a gull 'mascot' or two, familiar birds which stick to following one particular set of fisherwomen or boats.
Folklore
Myth states that the Amazon Gull was once a pure white animal. It gained it's reddish coloring and red eyes as it flew inland from the north to warn Ancient Era peoples of an eruption of Inishie-san, constantly flying and calling out even as the eruption began. In anger, Inishie struck the bird from the sky, her touch turning it's wings reddish gray, the flight through the ash filled skies turning it's eyes red. In gratitude for it's assistance to the people, Amanohara and Issui both taught the bird how to feed from the widest variety of sources, helping the gull to be successful and have little threat should it's food sources be endangered.