Skip to Content

All About Birds

All About Birds

Herring Gull

Overview
ID Info
Life History
Maps
Sounds

Herring Gull Sounds

Overview
ID info
Life History
Maps
Sounds

© DAVID BROWN | Macaulay Library Maine, July 10, 2007

Long calls (American)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Newfoundland and Labrador, July 08, 2007Recorded by Martha Fischer | Macaulay Library
Calls (American)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Ontario, June 21, 1963Recorded by Robert C. Stein | Macaulay Library
Calls (American)
Media Player Error
Update your browser or Flash plugin
Maine, June 16, 2011Recorded by Sarah MacLean | Macaulay Library

Sounds provided by Macaulay Library.
Listen to more sounds of this species from the ML archive.

Calls

Herring Gulls have a rich repertoire of calls, each of which may be modified in different contexts and accompanied by different postures. For example, the long-drawn single note of their mew call is always accompanied by an arched neck, but serves to attract attention in contexts as diverse as courtship, chick feeding, nest approaches, or agitated aggression. Their characteristic ha-ha-ha-ha alarm call may change to a plaintive yeow in flight or a yelping keow as the threat intensifies. That keow is highly individual and can serve as personal identification. When trumpeted more and more shrilly as the gull lowers and then raises its head, this becomes the gull's "long call," the most elaborate, variable, and individualized call in its repertoire. Both sexes make a repeated huoh-huoh-huoh in courtship, territorial disputes, and nest selection to indicate some version of "I'm not moving." It’s been called their “choking call” because the birds deliver the call while leaning forward, head down, and heaving upward as they call. Chicks beg for regurgitated food with a klee-ew call that they first peep while inside the egg. And adults use the same call in a softer "baby-talk" version during courtship or in exchanges when the male returns to take his turn on the nest.

Compare with Similar Species

Click on an image to compare

Ring-billed Gull

Ring-billed Gull

Ring-billed Gull

California Gull

California Gull

California Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Looking for ID Help?

Get Instant ID help for 650+ North American birds.

Try Merlin Bird ID

Species in This Family

Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers(Order: Charadriiformes, Family:Laridae)

Black-legged Kittiwake

Bonaparte's Gull

Black-headed Gull

Franklin's Gull

Heermann's Gull

Ring-billed Gull

California Gull

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Glaucous-winged Gull

Great Black-backed Gull

Gull-billed Tern

Browse Species in This Family

More to Read

Living Bird Magazine
A Noble Vision of Gulls
Living Bird Magazine
How Do Gulls Deal With Cold Feet?
A Second Look at “Seagulls”: Tips for ID

Bird Academy
Keeping the Peace: Threat Signals in Gull Colonies
When Gulls Attack, Just Stare Back
Feeding Birds: a Quick Guide to Seed Types

Copyright © 2019 Cornell University

Need Bird ID Help? Try Merlin

New call-to-action

Do not show this again

Search

Or Browse Bird Guide by Family or Shape

Get Instant ID Help

Don't miss a thing! Join our email list

The Cornell Lab will send you updates about birds, birding, and opportunities to help bird conservation.