Gull eggs, gathered in spring from the nests of wild gulls, are a source or form of eggs as food. Gulls' eggs tend to have speckled shells (which somewhat camouflages them in the landscape), a flavor variously described as fishy or salty that is reminiscent of the birds' marine environment, an especially white or even opalescent albumen when cooked, and almost-red orange yolks. Gull eggs are usually (but not always) larger than any size of chicken egg; for example, a herring-gull egg typically weighs about 85 g (3.0 oz). One source states that a generalized gull's egg is approximately twice the size of a chicken's egg. Egging is the prehistoric practice of foraging wild-bird eggs. Gull egging is practiced (to varying degrees) in several subarctic regions, including in Canada, Alaska, Greenland, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, Norway, Åland, Russia (by indigenous minorities of the north), and the British Isles. Gull eggs are collected from a number of species in the family Laridae, including the black-headed gull, glaucous gull, glaucous-winged gull, the great black-backed gull, Heermann's gull, the various subspecies of herring gull, the laughing gull, the lesser black-backed gull, Sabine's gull, the short-billed gull, and the western gull. Per one pair of zoologists, "Gull eggs are a readily renewable resource in that clutches that are destroyed are replaced." However, this egg production is not without energy demands on individual birds, and thus flocks, and can ultimately affect species-level survival. Gull eggs are also considered "excellent bioindicators of environmental pollution". Toxicologists and public-health agencies recommend that children and pregnant or nursing women avoid eating gull eggs. Increased egg production by domestic poultry and wild egging have often filled the hungry gap of early spring. In baking, gull eggs are said to increase the airiness of cakes (compared to chicken eggs used in the same way), and to make a "smashing meringue". In some human communities with large populations of fisherfolk, the relationship between egging human and nesting gulls may be considered to be mutualistic, in that humans nourish the gull population with a steady supply of fish guts in exchange for access to occasional or seasonal eggs.
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