Description
High in the Ecuadorian Andes, the páramo landscape of Cajas National Park stretches across windswept grasslands, glacial lakes, and alpine wetlands shaped by cold temperatures and thin mountain air. In this environment, the Andean Gull moves easily across the open terrain, its broad wings carrying it over high‑elevation grasslands where traditional alpaca grazing and native wildlife share the same rugged ecosystem. Unlike most gull species associated with coastlines, the Andean Gull is uniquely adapted to life far inland among the mountains, traveling between scattered lakes and wetlands throughout the Andes. This image captures a fleeting moment of flight within that vast landscape—an alpine gull moving across one of the highest ecosystems inhabited by any gull species in the world.
