Shorebirds vs. Seabirds & Bird Species

Herring gulls are noisy, assertive, and always on the lookout for a meal. This is the most widespread gull in the Northern Hemisphere. It has gray upperparts and black wingtips, and a large yellow bill with a red spot near the tip. They are highly adaptable birds, feeding on anything edible that they can find. They rarely venture far out to sea, but their range extends a long way inland.

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aughing Gulls are summer visitors to the Gulf Coast. If feeds mainly by scavenging and often follows ferries and fishing boats. During breeding season, it’s head turns a dull white. The solid colored, dark head feathers of the Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) in summer plumage, often described as a hood, makes is difficult to mistake it for any other North American Larus species. The picture shows the Laughing Gull in winter plumage, with a prominent white eye ring and dark legs and a minimal dark patch of feathers on an otherwise white head.