Laughing Gull
Leucophaeus atricilla
Slender, medium-sized gull with long wings. Medium-gray upperparts. Breeding plumage shows black head with white eye arcs, small white spots on black wingtips, and deep red bill and legs. Nonbreeding plumage has smudgy gray cheek and dark bill and legs. Juveniles are browner with neat scaly pattern on upperparts. The most common black-hooded gull on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America; common in the Caribbean and on both coasts of Central America and northern South America. Almost exclusively coastal, especially on beaches and mudflats; rarely ventures far inland. Compare with Franklin’s Gull, which is slightly more compact and shorter-billed. Laughing also has narrower eye arcs and smaller white spots on wingtips.
Identification
This species is 36–41 cm (14–16 in) long with a 98–110 cm (39–43 in) wingspan and a weight range of 203–371 grams (7.2–13.1 oz). The summer adult's body is white apart from the dark grey back and wings and black head. Its wings are much darker grey than all other gulls of similar size except the smaller Franklin's gull, and they have black tips without the white crescent shown by Franklin's. The beak is long and red. The black hood is mostly lost in winter.<p>Laughing gulls take three years to reach adult plumage. Immature birds are always darker than most similar-sized gulls other than Franklin's. First-year birds are greyer below and have paler heads than first-year Franklin's, and second-years can be distinguished by the wing pattern and structure.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Leucophaeus atricilla
- Authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Leucophaeus
Range and habitat
It breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, and northern South America. Northernmost populations migrate farther south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western Europe. The laughing gull's English name is derived from its raucous kee-agh call, which sounds like a high-pitched laugh "ha... ha... ha...".<p>Laughing gulls breed in coastal marshes and ponds in large colonies. The large nest, made largely from grasses, is constructed on the ground. The three or four greenish eggs are incubated for about three weeks.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
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