Wildlife Watching Wednesday: The Coastal Laughing Gull

By: Tom Berg

Some people think all seagulls are the same.  A seagull is a seagull, right?  Wrong.  According to the book Gulls of North America by Fred Shaffer, there are actually 27 species of gulls in North America alone.  They can be difficult to identify since many of them look very similar, and breeding plumage is often quite different than non-breeding plumage.  To make identification even more difficult, juvenile birds often look much different than their adult parents, too.

One gull that can be found all along the East Coast and Southeast Coast of the United States and throughout coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico is the Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla).  During breeding season, laughing gulls can also be found along the freshwater coasts of all five Great Lakes.  They love to be near water, so looking for them along the coastline is always a good idea.

Laughing gulls are only slightly smaller than the very common ring-billed gull, and they have a wingspan of about 36-46 inches.  So they are still fairly large birds.  They have a mostly gray back and a bright white breast and neck.  Non-breeding adults, like the one pictured here, have a white head with black or gray blotches behind the eye and on the back of the head.  They also have a black bill.

The breeding plumage and colors of adult laughing gulls is quite different than their non-breeding counterparts.  Breeding birds have a completely jet-black head, with a red bill and definite white eye-rings which are broken at the front.  They also have reddish legs, which is different than the darker-colored legs of non-breeding individuals.  Juveniles are mostly brown in color.

Laughing gulls are very similar to most other seagull species when it comes to food and their diet.  Laughing gulls will eat almost anything.  Fish, crabs, insects, worms, snails, fruits, berries, and even garbage are all part of their diet.  When found in the parking lots of fast food restaurants near the coast, they are perfectly happy to eat french fries dropped (accidentally or on purpose) by humans.

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