Kelp Gull.

The Southern African population of Kelp Gulls has been estimated to contain 11 000 pairs, 9000 in South Africa and 2000 in Namibia. Even though the total population of Kelp Gulls is far smaller than that of African Penguins, which contains about 180 000 birds, it is not regarded as threatened. This is because the penguin population is steadily decreasing at a rate of about 2% per year, while that of Kelp Gull is on the increase.

This upwards trend is in part due to the suspension of persecution by humans. Numbers on the guano islands were controlled in order to reduce predation on the main guano-producing birds. The main factor in the increase in Kelp Gull populations has been human subsidies: large numbers take discards of fish behind trawlers and at fish processing factories; even larger numbers occur at rubbish tips, where they feed on discarded food. Kelp Gulls are omnivores like most Larus gulls, and they will scavenge as well as seeking suitable small prey. As it gathers on landfills, a sharp increase in its population is considered as an indicator for a degraded environment. Kelp Gulls don't have things all their own way, however. The White Pelicans on Dassen Island have, over the past few years, taken to eating Kelp Gull chicks, and have reduced the breeding productivity on this island to very low levels. Kelp Gulls have been observed feeding on live right whales since at least 1996. The Kelp Gull uses its powerful beak to peck down centimetres into the skin and blubber, often leaving the whales with large open sores, some of which have been observed to be half a meter in diameter.  

The adult Kelp Gull has black upperparts and wings. The head, underparts, tail and the small "mirrors" at the wing tips are white. The bill is yellow with a red spot, and the legs are greenish-yellow (brighter and yellower when breeding, duller and greener when not breeding). The call is a strident ki-och. Juveniles have dull legs, a black bill, a dark band in the tail, and an overall grey-brown plumage densely edged whitish, but they rapidly get a pale base to the bill and largely white head and underparts. They take three or four years to reach maturity.

Most ringing of Kelp Gulls is of nestlings. There are three records of nestlings living to ages exceeding 20 years. The oldest bird was ringed in November 1971 in the colony near Plettenburg Bay; it was recovered just over 24 years later, in January 1996, very close to the place where it had been ringed. Kelp Gulls are one of the species being targeted with individually engraved colour rings.