Ring-billed Gull
Larus delawarensis · Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
Banding codeRBGU
Keys to identifying it
1Size & shape
About 18 in long.
2Color pattern
- Black ring around a yellow bill
- Yellow legs
- Pale eye; pale gray back
3Habitat & season
Parking lots, landfills, reservoirs, parks
In northern Utah: year-round.
Seen most often in December.
Share of the region’s research-grade iNaturalist bird observations each month, scaled to this bird’s peak. Highlighted bars are its peak months.
4Voice
Mewing and laughing gull calls.
“a high, laughing 'kee-ow'”
iNat 63891609 by Jennifer Rycenga · Stone Ridge Plaza, Rochester, NY, US · CC BY
Know it
- Named for the black band around its yellow bill.
- A familiar parking-lot gull at fast-food restaurants and landfills.
- Has a pale eye and yellow legs; California Gull has a dark eye.
- Numbers swell around the Great Salt Lake in late summer and fall.
Often confused with
California Gull
Franklin's Gull- Short-billed Gull
- American Herring Gull
From iNaturalist identification data for northern Utah.
From Wikipedia
The ring-billed gull is a medium-sized gull native to North America, breeding in Canada and the northern Contiguous United States, and wintering mainly in the United States and northern Mexico. The genus name is from Latin Larus which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird. The specific delawarensis refers to the Delaware River.
Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0