The smallest gull in the world, the Little Gull is common across Eurasia. A few pairs have been nesting in North America since the 1960s, and the species is now a rare, but regular, visitor to the East Coast and the Great Lakes.
The first record of Little Gull in North America was in 1819, but the first nest was not discovered until 1962. After that time, numbers increased and sightings became more frequent. Whether the species had always been present in small numbers or if it newly colonized the continent in the 1960s is unknown.
In North America the Little Gull is most frequently observed during winter and on migration in groups of one to three, usually associated with larger flocks of Bonaparte's Gulls.
A Little Gull chick banded in Sweden was found dead on the road in Pennsylvania in its first summer.
Gulls
