Herring Gull

Identification

Adult Herring Gulls look almost modular: a clean white head and underparts, a mid-grey back, and pink legs. The bill is yellow with a distinct red spot on the lower mandible near the tip — the target chicks peck at to beg for food. Winter adults wear fine grey-brown streaking over the head and neck that clears by spring. It takes four years to reach this look: first-winter birds are a mottled brown, second-years show a pale grey back with brown wing coverts, and only in the fourth year does the full grey-and-white pattern lock in. The usual trap for beginners is the Lesser Black-backed Gull, which wears yellow legs and a darker slate back; Herring Gulls almost always show pink legs and a paler mantle.

Herring Gulls are the archetypal opportunist. They follow fishing boats for discards and offal, raid other seabirds' nests for eggs and chicks, and work the intertidal zone for crabs, mussels and starfish — dropping shellfish from height onto rocks to break them open. They also take small mammals, and town birds have learned to snatch food from shoppers' hands. From April, pairs defend a small territory on a cliff ledge, rooftop or island, laying two to three eggs; both parents feed the chicks for weeks after they fledge. Ringing studies show a strong tendency to return and breed within a few kilometres of where they hatched.

This is the classic 'seagull' of European and North American seaside towns, and the easiest big gull to study at close range — car parks, harbours and landfill sites in winter are reliable. For a natural setting, visit sea cliffs during the May–July breeding season, when adults are in crisp plumage and chicks sit on the ledges. In winter birds disperse widely and gather in large flocks on estuaries and reservoirs, often mixing with other gull species. Learning this bird well makes identifying every other large gull far easier.