Ring-billed Gull

Larus delawarensisOrder: CHARADRIIFORMESFamily: Skuas, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)
Ring-billed Gull Breeding Adult Portrait
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Range Map for Ring-billed Gull Breeding Adult

Overview

Ring-billed Gull: Medium gull with gray upperparts and white underparts. Head is white and bill is yellow with black ring near tip. Wings are gray above, tipped black with white spots, and white below. Yellow legs and feet. Strong direct flight on deep wing beats, soars on thermals.

Range and Habitat

Ring-billed Gull: Breeds locally south to California, northern Great Plains, and southern prairie provinces of Canada, Great Lakes region, Canadian Maritimes, and northern New England. Spends winters on coasts, rivers, and lakes from southern New England south to Cuba, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, and from British Columbia to southern Mexico.

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Listen:

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Voice Text

"kree-kree", "kyow-kyow-kyow"

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Related Birds:

Mew Gull
California Gull
Herring Gull
.

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Family Gull (Laridae)_blue
Species Larus delawarensis
Length18 - 19 Inches
Wingspan48 Inches

Ring-billed Gull

Ring-billed Gull: Medium gull with gray upperparts and white underparts. Head is white and bill is yellow with black ring near tip. Wings are gray above, tipped black with white spots, and white below. Yellow legs and feet. Strong direct flight on deep wing beats, soars on thermals.

● Song: "kree-kree", "kyow-kyow-kyow"

● Foraging & Feeding: Ring-billed Gull: Mostly scavenges, but also eats fish, rodents, small aquatic animals, bird chicks and eggs, and sometimes grasshoppers. Frequents landfills, garbage dumps, plowed fields, and parking lots; follows ships for refuse dumped overboard. Forages on the ground or snatches food from the water surface while in flight.

● Breeding & nesting: Ring-billed Gull: Two to four olive to brown eggs marked with lavender, gray and brown are laid in a hollow on the ground, sometimes lined with grass or debris; nests in colonies, often with other gulls or terns, usually on islands in lakes. Incubation ranges from 21 to 28 days and is carried out by both parents.

● Similar species: Ring-billed Gull: Herring Gull is larger with thicker bill that lacks black ring. California Gull is larger and has a red spot near the tip of lower mandible.

Flight Pattern

Soars on thermals., Strong direct flight with deep rapid wing beats.
Ring-billed Gull Breeding Adult Body Illustration
● Range & Habitat: Ring-billed Gull: Breeds locally south to California, northern Great Plains, and southern prairie provinces of Canada, Great Lakes region, Canadian Maritimes, and northern New England. Spends winters on coasts, rivers, and lakes from southern New England south to Cuba, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, and from British Columbia to southern Mexico.
BreedingMonogamous, Colonial, Some polygamous
PopulationAbundant
MigrationMigratory
Weight19.2 Ounces