Laughing Gull

Larus atricillaOrder: CHARADRIIFORMES Family: Skuas, Gulls, Terns, Skimmers (Laridae)

Codes: Common Name: LAGU Scientific Name: LARATR ITIS Taxonomic No.: 176837

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Bird Call Credits: The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Martyn Stewart, http://www.naturesound.org, Redmond, Washington USA. The reuse or copying of bird calls in this database is strictly forbidden.

Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull: Medium gull, gray back, white underparts. Head has black hood, neck is white, and bill is red. Wings are gray and white-edged and black at tips; tail is white. Legs and feet are black. Slow flight with deep wing beats. Soars on updrafts. Named for its laughterlike call.

● Song: "ha, ha, ha, ha"

● Foraging & Feeding: Laughing Gull: Feeds on fish, crabs, snails, insects, eggs, and chicks.

● Breeding & nesting: Laughing Gull: Three olive to buff eggs marked with brown are laid in a ground nest lined with grass and weed stems, and built on sand or in a salt marsh. Eggs are incubated for 20 days by both parents.

● Similar species: Laughing Gull: Franklin's Gull is smaller, shorter-billed, rounder-headed, and has shorter wings; breeding adults have darker primary tips, paler primary undersides, and a white bar between gray upperwing and black primaries.

Flight Pattern

Slow flight with deep wing beats.

Laughing Gull Breeding Adult Body Illustration

● Range & Habitat: Laughing Gull: Lives mainly on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S., ranging from Maine down through Florida and Texas. Spends winters regularly north to Virginia, in smaller numbers farther north. Found in salt marshes, lagoons, and coastal beaches.

^BreedingMonogamous, Colonial

^Population

^MigrationMigratory

^Weight11.5 Ounces

4 and 6 letter alpha codes

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus) and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante (2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42 (Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

Field Guide to Birds of North America

Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull

Flight Pattern