Little Gull Identification

The Four Keys to ID

• Size & Shape

  A very small, compact gull, the size of a medium-sized tern, with moderately long but rounded wings, short tail, small head, fine, pointed bill, and short legs.

  Relative Size

  Larger than a Black Tern, slightly smaller than a Bonaparte’s Gull.

  crow-sized

  Measurements

  • Both Sexes
  • • Length: 11.4-11.8 in (29-30 cm)
    • Weight: 3.5-5.3 oz (100-150 g)
    • Wingspan: 24.0 in (61 cm)

• Color Pattern

  Adult in breeding plumage is pearly gray above and white below, with a black head, white trailing edges to the wings, charcoal gray underwings, and vivid red legs. Little Gull lacks the broken white eyering of Bonaparte’s Gull. Nonbreeding adult has a white head with a dark spot behind the eye, and a gray cap at the back of the crown. Juvenile and first-winter birds are similar to nonbreeding adults but with blackish “M” pattern in upperwing, dark tip to tail, much paler legs, and no dark underwing.

• Behavior

  Forages by flying and hovering above the water, then dipping or diving to take insects or small fish from the water or below it. Sometimes flycatches in the air or hovers to take insect larvae from vegetation; also picks insects from the water while swimming or wading. Outside the breeding season, normally found among Bonaparte’s Gulls and forages similarly.

• Habitat

  Nests in freshwater and brackish wetlands with reeds and rushes. Migrants use lakes, ponds, rivers, and ocean coasts. In North America, wintering birds usually accompany Bonaparte’s Gulls in sewage treatment facilities, rivers, bays, estuaries, and ocean waters, including open ocean far from shore.