Laughing Gull Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  Laughing Gulls are medium-sized gulls with fairly long wings and long legs that impart a graceful look when they are flying or walking. They have stout, fairly long bills.

  Relative Size

  Slightly smaller than a Ring-billed Gull

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 15.3-18.1 in (39-46 cm)
    • Weight: 7.2-13.1 oz (203-371 g)
    • Wingspan: 36.2-47.2 in (92-120 cm)

  © James Rieman / Macaulay Library

• Color Pattern

  Laughing Gulls are medium gray above and white below. Summer adults have a crisp black hood, white arcs around the eye, and a reddish bill. In winter, the hood becomes a blurry gray mask on a white head. The legs are reddish black to black. Immatures are much browner and more subtly patterned than adults; they take 2-3 years to gain adult plumage.

• Behavior

  Laughing Gulls eat almost anything, including food they catch or steal, handouts, garbage, and discards from fishing boats. They often congregate in parking lots, sandy beaches, and mud bars. Listen for their nasal, strident calls in flight, while feeding, and at rest.
• Habitat

  Laughing Gulls are a coastal species and are only occasionally seen very far inland. Look for them in plowed fields, garbage dumps, parking lots, and shorelines. They nest, often in large numbers, on islands near the shore but safely isolated from terrestrial predators.