General

Ring-billed Gull: Medium-sized gull with gray upperparts and white underparts. Head is white and bill is yellow with black ring near tip. Wings are gray above, tipped black with white spots, and white below. Sexes are similar. Winter adult has fine brown markings on head and nape. Juvenile has brown streaks on crown, nape, and upper breast, dark terminal band on brown-splattered white tail, and dark bill. 1st winter begins to show gray on back and upperwings and has a pink bill with black tip. 2nd winter resembles winter adult but retains black-tipped pink bill and black band on tail.

Range and Habitat

Ring-billed Gull: Breeds locally south to California, northern Great Plains, and southern prairie provinces of Canada, Great Lakes region, Canadian Maritimes, and northern New England. Spends winters on coasts, rivers, and lakes from southern New England south to Cuba, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, and from British Columbia to southern Mexico.

Breeding and Nesting

Ring-billed Gull: Two to four olive to brown eggs marked with lavender, gray and brown are laid in a hollow on the ground, sometimes lined with grass or debris; nests in colonies, often with other gulls or terns, usually on islands in lakes. Incubation ranges from 21 to 28 days and is carried out by both parents.

Foraging and Feeding

Ring-billed Gull: Mostly scavenges, but also eats fish, rodents, small aquatic animals, bird chicks and eggs, and sometimes grasshoppers. Frequents landfills, garbage dumps, plowed fields, and parking lots; follows ships for refuse dumped overboard. Forages on the ground or snatches food from the water surface while in flight.

Vocalization

Ring-billed Gull: Call is a screeched "kree, kree" or a shrill "kyow-kyow-kyow."

Similar Species

Ring-billed Gull: Herring Gull is larger with thicker bill that lacks black ring. California Gull is larger and has a red spot near the tip of lower mandible.