From Opus

Photo by jvhigbee

Larus smithsonianus

[edit] Identification

23-26" (58-66 cm)

[edit] Adult

• White with light gray back and wings
• Wing tip black with white spots
• Bill yellow with red spot on lower mandible
• Feet pink or flesh colored
  

Immature

• Brownish
  

Acquires adult plumage in 4 years. See California Gull.

Juvenile
Photo by bobsofpa
Sebastian Inlet State Park, Florida, USA, February 2005

[edit] Distribution

Breeds from Alaska east across northern Canada to Maritime Provinces, south to British Columbia, north-central Canada, and Great Lakes, and along Atlantic Coast to North Carolina. ¹

[edit] Taxonomy

Formerly considered a subspecies of European Herring Gull.

[edit] Habitat

Lakes, rivers, estuaries, and beaches; common in all aquatic habitats.

[edit] Behaviour

[edit] Breeding

2-4 heavily spotted, olive-brown eggs in a mass of seaweed or dead grass on the ground or a cliff; most often on islands. Nests in colonies.

[edit] Vocalisation

Loud rollicking call, kuk-kuk-kuk, yucca-yucca-yucca, and other raucous cries. ²

[edit] References

1. Whatbird
2. enature

[edit] External Links