{"id":77534,"date":"2026-05-31T13:11:24","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T07:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=77534"},"modified":"2026-06-02T11:16:42","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T05:46:42","slug":"pallass-gull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/pallass-gull\/","title":{"rendered":"Pallas&#8217;s Gull"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>Pallas\u2019s Gull Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first confirmed record of Pallas\u2019s Gull (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus) from the Spiti Valley was recently documented at Chandratal Lake, a Ramsar wetland, during a field visit. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>About Pallas\u2019s Gull<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pallas\u2019s Gull, also called the <\/span><b>Great Black-headed Gull,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> is a<\/span><b> large bird species <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">belonging to the family Laridae.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is the <\/span><b>world\u2019s largest black-headed gull <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and the <\/span><b>third-largest species of gull<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the world.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scientific Name: Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Pallas\u2019s Gull <\/b><b>Habitat and Distribution<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It<\/span><b> breeds in colonies in marshes and islands<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from <\/span><b>southern Russia to Mongolia.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is <\/span><b>migratory<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><b>wintering in warmer places<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. These include the <\/span><b>eastern Mediterranean Sea<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the <\/span><b>Arabian Peninsula<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><b>India<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It prefers <\/span><b>wetlands, salt lakes, lagoons,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and slow-flowing rivers.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Sometimes<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a Pallas&#8217;s gull might <\/span><b>fly far off its usual path.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When this happens, it is called a &#8220;<\/span><b>vagrant<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These gulls are sometimes seen as <\/span><b>vagrants in Western Europe<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. They also visit parts of the <\/span><b>Indian Ocean and the coasts of Africa.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Pallas\u2019s Gull <\/b><b>Features<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It measures 55\u201372 cm in length with a 142 to 170 cm wingspan.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summer adults are unmistakable, since <\/span><b>no other gull of this size has a black hood.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The adults have <\/span><b>grey wings and backs,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with c<\/span><b>onspicuous white \u201cmirrors\u201d at the wing tips.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The <\/span><b>legs are yellow,<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and the<\/span><b> bill is orangey-yellow with a red tip.<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In all other plumages, a dark mask through the eye indicates the vestiges of the hood.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The call is a deep aargh cry.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">These birds are <\/span><b>predatory<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, taking fish, crustaceans, insects, and even small mammals.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b>Typical Lifespan: 12 to 24 years<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in the wild.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Pallas\u2019s Gull <\/b><b>Conservation Status<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is classified as &#8216;<b>Least Concern<\/b>&#8216; under the IUCN Red List<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Key Facts about Chandratal Lake<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chandra Taal (meaning the<\/span><b> Lake of the Moon<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), or Chandra Tal, is a high-altitude lake situated in the <\/span><b>Spiti Valley of Himachal Pradesh.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This <\/span><b>crescent-shaped<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> lake is situated at an altitude of about <\/span><b>4,300 metres<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (14,100 ft) in the Himalayas.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It has a circumference of about 2-3 kms and is <\/span><b>one of the sources of the Chandra River.\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is beautifully<\/span><b> surrounded by snow-capped mountains<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> on one side and <\/span><b>cirques <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">on the other.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The lake is famous for its <\/span><b>crystal-clear turquoise waters<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which often <\/span><b>change shades <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">from blue to green depending on sunlight and weather conditions.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is also celebrated in Hinduism for its <\/span><b>mention in the epic Mahabharata.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is a designated <\/span><b><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/ramsar-sites-in-india\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ramsar site<\/a>. <\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><b>Source<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">:<\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newindianexpress.com\/india\/2026\/May\/28\/pallass-gull-a-rare-migratory-bird-spotted-in-himachals-lahaul-spiti-district\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> IE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pallas\u2019s Gull (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus), or Great Black-headed Gull, is the world\u2019s largest black-headed gull and among the largest gulls. Read more about Pallas&#8217;s Gull, Habitat, Distribution, Features, Latest News<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":77585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4171,21,22,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-77534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-pallass-gull","9":"tag-prelims-pointers","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=77534"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106293,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77534\/revisions\/106293"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=77534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=77534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}