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The swallow-tailed gull is the only gull in the world that hunts at night. With huge dark eyes, a bright red eye-ring and an elegant forked tail, this near-endemic Galapagos seabird heads out to sea after dark to catch squid and fish. Here is what makes it unique and where to see it.
Swallow-tailed gull at a glance
- Scientific name: Creagrus furcatus (the only species in its genus)
- Unique: the world’s only fully nocturnal gull
- Look: sooty-black head, red eye-ring, red-and-white bill, deeply forked tail
- Size: medium-large, about 51-57 cm
- Diet: squid and small fish, hunted at night
- Where: cliffs and rocky slopes, almost entirely in the Galapagos
What Is the Swallow-Tailed Gull (Creagrus furcatus)?
The swallow-tailed gull (Creagrus furcatus) is the only species in its genus. Breeding adults have a sooty-black head, a vivid red eye-ring, a red-and-white bill and pearly-grey wings, while the deeply forked tail gives the bird its name. At 51 to 57 cm it is a medium-to-large gull, and it nests almost entirely in the Galapagos, with a few on Colombia’s Malpelo Island. Its scientific name, creagrus furcatus, marks it out as the sole member of its genus. It is one of the most distinctive stops on the Galapagos birds trail, often sharing the eastern cliffs with the waved albatross. We can build a trip around this. Share your dates and we’ll send a free quote within 24 hours.
The Nocturnal Gull: World’s Only Night-Hunting Seabird
What truly sets it apart is the night shift. As a nocturnal gull, it forages after dark, using unusually large eyes with a reflective layer for night vision to hunt squid and small fish that rise toward the surface at night. A pale spot at the base of the bill may even help chicks and partners find it in the dark. No other gull on Earth lives this way. As the world’s only fully nocturnal gull, it has the largest eyes of any gull – a reflective layer gathers faint light so it can hunt squid and fish after dark.
How to recognise it
That night shift is not just a quirk. Feeding after dark lets the gull dodge frigatebirds, which bully daytime seabirds and rob their catch, and it times much of its breeding to the moon, laying and hatching around the darker nights when hunting is easiest. You can experience it firsthand on our 7-day island hopping tour.
A few swallow-tailed gull facts make it easy to identify:
- Eyes — very large and dark, ringed in bright red during breeding.
- Head — sooty black on breeding adults, fading to white out of season.
- Tail — deeply forked, unique among the gulls you will see here.
- Bill — black with a white tip and a pale base spot.
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Where It Lives: Range and Habitat
Look for these gulls on cliffs and rocky slopes, where they nest on ledges. They are easy and beautiful to watch despite their unusual lifestyle, and you will often see them resting in pairs during the day before heading out to sea at dusk.
Swallow-Tailed Gull Galapagos: Where to See It
On seabird cliffs and rocky shores: The best swallow-tailed gull galapagos sites are the eastern seabird cliffs: Espanola (a land-accessible day tour) and South Plaza (an easy day boat from Santa Cruz), plus Genovesa on northern cruise routes.
- Española (Punta Suárez) — superb cliff colonies alongside albatross and boobies.
- Genovesa (Tower Island) — one of the best seabird islands anywhere.
- South Plaza and rocky shores — pairs nesting on ledges, easy to photograph.
Swallow-Tailed Gull Facts: Quick Field Marks
A few more quick facts:
- It is the only fully nocturnal gull in the world.
- Its scientific name is Creagrus furcatus, the sole member of its genus.
- It hunts squid and fish at night using night-adapted eyes.
- The red eye-ring and forked tail make it unmistakable.
- It nests almost entirely in the Galapagos Islands.
Breeding and Life Cycle
Unlike most seabirds, these birds breed on no fixed calendar. Pairs nest year-round on a roughly nine-to-ten-month cycle, so on any visit you may find courtship, eggs and chicks all at once on the same cliff. A single egg is laid on bare rock or a scrape lined with bits of coral and lava; both parents share the long shifts, one guarding by day while the other rides far out to sea and returns after dark to feed the chick. Pairs are loyal, often reuniting season after season, and a youngster can take three months before it is ready to fly.
Where You Will Actually See a Swallow-Tailed Gull
This is a cliff bird, and that narrows the search considerably. The reliable colonies are on Espanola Island and Genovesa Island, on the same ledges that hold the red-billed tropicbird and, a little further along, the Nazca booby.
Espanola is the one of the two that a land-based traveler can realistically reach, on a long day trip from San Cristobal Island. Genovesa is cruise-only. Our Galapagos birds guide explains which seabirds that limitation costs you.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes this gull unique?
It is the only gull in the world that hunts at night, with large night-adapted eyes for catching squid and fish after dark.
What is its scientific name?
Creagrus furcatus. It is the only species in its genus, and nests almost entirely in the Galapagos.
Why does it hunt at night?
It feeds on squid and small fish that rise toward the surface after dark, and its large reflective eyes give it the night vision to catch them.
Where can you see it?
On cliffs and rocky slopes, especially Española, Genovesa and South Plaza, where they nest on ledges.
How big is it?
It is a medium-to-large gull, about 51 to 57 cm long, with a distinctive deeply forked tail.
Is it found outside the Galapagos?
It breeds almost only in the Galapagos, on steep cliffs of islands such as Genovesa, Espanola and the Plazas. Outside the breeding season it disperses far out over the eastern Pacific, off Ecuador, Peru and Chile.
Meeting the night-hunting gull
This night-hunting gull is proof that even gulls can surprise you. Watch a pair settle on a cliff at dusk, those big red-ringed eyes ready for the night, and you are seeing a seabird found almost nowhere else on Earth.
Read more at the Galapagos Conservation Trust, or meet its cousin the lava gull and the rest of the cast in Galapagos islands animals.
