Short-billed Gull Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A small gull with a short, slender bill. It has a small head, short neck, rather short tail, and moderately long legs.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Bonaparte’s Gull, smaller than a Ring-billed Gull.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 16.1-18.1 in (41-46 cm)
    • Weight: 12.7-21.2 oz (360-600 g)
    • Wingspan: 42.1-44.9 in (107-114 cm)

• Color Pattern

  Adult in breeding plumage is medium gray above, white below, with white head, black wingtips with white spots, yellow legs and bill, and dark eye. Nonbreeding adult is similar but head and neck are lightly mottled with pale brown. Juvenile brownish overall, with darker flight feathers and blackish tail, acquiring gray back in first winter. Subadults are intermediate in plumage between juvenile and adult.

• Behavior

  Forages along shorelines by dropping to the water to seize marine organisms, or by swimming, wading, or walking. Forages in mudflats, fields, and pastures mostly by walking and seizing prey from the ground or by pirating prey from other birds. Occasionally eats eggs, small birds, and mammals, as well as carrion, garbage, grains, and fruits. Often forages in flocks, mixed with other seabird species.

• Habitat

  Nests from Pacific coasts to taiga and tundra far inland, using boulder fields, meadows, cliffs, or trees as nest sites, often on small islands. Forages along coastlines, in marine waters close to shore, rivers, lakes, mudflats, and fields. Seldom found far offshore but occasionally found inland during the nonbreeding season.