Measurements
Both Sexes
- Length
- 16.9–21.3 in
43–54 cm - Wingspan
- 41.3–46.1 in
105–117 cm - Weight
- 10.6–24.7 oz
300–700 g
Other Names
- Goéland à bec cerclé (French)
- Apipizca pinta (Spanish)
Cool Facts
- Young Ring-billed Gulls tested at only two days of age showed a preference for magnetic bearings that would take them in the appropriate direction for their fall migration.
- Many, if not most, Ring-billed Gulls return to breed at the colony where they hatched. Once they have bred, they are likely to return to the same breeding spot each year, often nesting within a few meters of the last year's nest site. Many individuals return to the same wintering sites each winter too.
- Although it is considered a typical large white-headed gull, the Ring-billed Gull has been known to hybridize only with smaller, black-headed species, such as Franklin's, Black-headed, and Laughing gulls.
Habitat
Lake/Pond
Nests on islands. Found around fresh water, landfills, golf courses, farm fields, shopping areas, and coastal beaches.
Food
Omnivore
Fish, insects, earthworms, rodents, grain, garbage.
Nesting
Nesting Facts
- Clutch Size
- 1–4 eggs
- Egg Description
- Light olive with dark brown speckles.
- Condition at Hatching
- Chicks semiprecocial at hatching; may leave nest cup at one day old. Covered in cryptically colored down.
Nest Description
Nest a scrape in ground or vegetation, filled with twigs, sticks, grasses, leaves, lichens, and mosses. Nests in colonies.
Nest Placement
Ground
Behavior
Ground Forager
Forages while walking on land, dips for food on surface of water, skims shallow water for small fish, hawks for flying insects.
Conservation
Least Concern
Hunting for the millinery trade nearly extirpated it from parts of range in 1800s. Now common and widespread, and is expanding its breeding range.
Credits
- Ryder, J. P. 1992. Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis). In The Birds of North America, No. 33 (A. Poole, P. Stettenheim, and F. Gill, eds.). The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C.