Project:Sandbox

Common Gull== ====== The Common Gull is an infamous seabird known as the terror of the coasts. While it serves occasional use to sailors and fishermen, these days it is known solely as a nuisance; an overpopulated one, at that. Considered the “rooster” of cities of port, these birds often wake sleeping residents early in the morning, and crowd coasts in high numbers. The overpopulation of this bird is a notable fact, to the point where there have been recent tales told by sailors of flocks thick enough to scatter sunlight and last a full five minutes before passing entirely.

History
The Common Gull is considered so “common” as a result of its presence in all of recorded history. As a result of the availability of these birds, many were captured and tamed, creating an entirely new variation of this species in [TIMESTAMP], but the process took generations of the bird and thusly it is impossible to entirely tame the Common Gull with only one subject. In both 261 AC, and 290 AC; colossal flocks of gulls were seen overhead, the latter during a minor naval skirmish of the Chrysant War. These flocks are recorded to have been of such density that the sun was scattered or even almost entirely blocked out. Many observations of this species after the Bone Horror Crisis have observed that the species’ obscenely high population dropped immensely, leaving many to conclude that such major flocks may not be seen again in a long time. The gull is still considered common, especially within the Regalian Archipelago where they have typically remained safe from harm.

Physical Appearance
This bird’s feather-coat varies black rectrices, otherwise tails of feather. It’s sides and back are consistently gray, and it’s stomach as well as head are white, with a small and curved yellow beak. The black tail is it’s most notable feature, used to differentiate from it’s many seabird kin. The Common Gull’s size can variate between small and rather large, while it’s wingspan is invariably roughly four times the size of its body. The gull call is heard as a high-pitched squeal cry.

Diversity
There is no notable difference between genders for the Common Gull. There have been observed variations of the type of gull, though most are just branded gulls, since the diversity is scarce and insignificant.

Life Span and Development
Once hatched from a brown egg with sporadic black spots, the Common Gull will take three years before it has reached full maturity. During childhood, the gull will look almost unrecognizable, with a brown torso and a gray or brown streaked head. Slowly, the brown feathers will turn gray, and the gray white. During this phase, the bird is often mistaken for other similar looking species.

(What is the normal life span of this creature? How does it develop/what changes as it grows up? Does it start as an egg? Does it pupate?)

Mental Overview
(Indicate whether the fauna is overtly wild or able to be tamed. If it is wild, indicate whether it is hostile or not, or what species it may be hostile towards.)

Common Gulls are unpredictable creatures, examinations show. Their habitual routine is scarcely altered, though the details of how they act and treat one another are curious. The gulls will often fight one another for mates, using their beaks to tear or peck at their enemies. When taming was attempted, the gull seemed to forget it’s tasks and return to a Common Gull’s usual behavior, even when raised away from others of its kind. It is concluded that the gull cannot be tamed normally, though attempts with many generations of the species has managed to succeed. The difference in behavior was enough to warrant the two be separated, as the other a tamed gull which can perform tasks if raised to do so. The result was tamed gulls occasionally being used to send long-distance messages, but even now many often go missing, assumed to have returned to their gull instincts mid-task. One would surmise that the Common Gull is in general an unreliable creature.

Territory and Groupings
While some gulls might separate from their flock temporarily, every specimen of the Common Gull has a predetermined route based on region and will often hibernate between north and south, depending on the season. The gulls do hunt around shallow waters, their high-pitched calls being heard by coasts, but they are not limited to shores. When hibernating, the flocks will often group in large amounts, rarely resulting in a giant flock that may partially block sunlight, though this is only a result of their recent mass overpopulation.

Trivia

 * The large amount of Bone Horror Common Gulls was a horrifying sight to behold during the crisis; as they still called normally, but were rotting away as they threw themselves into groups of victims in hordes.
 * The Tamed Gull is seen as unreliable, but efficient when it’s able to stick to a task. Not all gulls are stubborn, some individual birds of the Tamed Gull subspecies are diligent at their given tasks.
 * Due to the Common Gull’s overpopulation, it was a very common sport among fishermen and sailors alike to hunt these birds, and fish them out of the water to tear out their beaks as trophies. This sport is now heavily discouraged, with the population increasingly low after the Bone Horror Crisis.