How do I tell a Herring Gull from a Lesser Black-backed Gull?

Look at the legs and the back. Herring Gulls almost always have pink legs and a pale grey back, while Lesser Black-backed Gulls have yellow legs and a distinctly darker slate-grey back.

Why is that gull stamping its feet on the grass?

It is generally thought to be a way of making earthworms and other soil animals move. The vibration appears to bring prey to the surface, and gulls often repeat the pattern before pecking at the ground.

How long does it take a gull to look like an adult?

Herring Gulls take four years. First-winter birds are mottled brown, second-years show a grey back with brown wing coverts, and third-years are close to adult but usually retain some brown in the wing.

Should I feed the gulls at the seaside?

It is generally discouraged. Gulls that learn to associate people with food become bold and snatch food from the hand, and the resulting complaints often lead to the birds being treated as a problem rather than protected wildlife.

No. 004

IV · Seabirds

Herring Gull

Larus argentatus

银鸥

Scientific name: Larus argentatus
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Length: 54–60 cm
Wingspan: 123–148 cm
Habitat: coasts, harbours, estuaries and rubbish tips; also inland lakes and reservoirs
Range: North Atlantic coasts of Europe and North America
Diet: fish, crabs, mussels, carrion, eggs and chicks, human food waste

The Herring Gull is the big grey-and-white gull of European and North American seaside towns, and it is the best bird to learn first: get this one right and every other large gull becomes easier.

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.

Opportunism and daily routine

Herring Gulls are the archetypal generalists. They follow fishing boats for discards, work the intertidal zone for crabs and mussels, drop shellfish from height onto rocks to break them open, raid other seabirds' nests for eggs and chicks, and take food waste wherever people leave it. Town birds have learned to watch shoppers and to snatch food from the hand.

Breeding pairs defend a small territory from April on a cliff ledge, an island, a rooftop or a chimney, laying two or three eggs that both parents incubate and feed. Ringing shows that birds tend to return to breed within a few kilometres of where they hatched, which is why the same rooftops produce chicks year after year.

Voice and what it tells you

The everyday call is the laughing kyow-kyow-kyow that gives the group its reputation, delivered in flight or from a rooftop and often taken up by several birds at once. The long call is a slower, yelping series given with the head thrown back, and it functions as a claim on a territory or a mate.

Alarm is a hard, repeated ga-ga-ga, and the mewing note heard over a colony comes mostly from begging young. Learning those four sounds makes it possible to work out what a flock is doing - feeding, disputing a scrap of food, or mobbing a predator - without looking up.

Confusion risks

Leg colour is the first thing to check. Herring Gulls almost always show pink legs and a pale grey back; Lesser Black-backed Gulls show yellow legs and a distinctly darker slate back. Great Black-backed is much larger, darker still, and heavier in the bill. Yellow-legged Gulls sit between the two on back colour and show yellow legs.

Ageing is the second task. Herring Gulls take four years to reach adult plumage: first-winter birds are mottled brown with a dark-tipped pink-based bill, second-years show a grey back with brown wing coverts, third-years are close to adult but keep some brown in the wing. Check the wing coverts and the tail band before deciding an age.

Where and when to look

Harbours, car parks, refuse tips, estuaries and reservoirs are reliable in winter, and a landfill site at dawn can hold hundreds of birds, including rare species hiding among the common ones. Sea cliffs between May and July offer the best natural setting, with adults in crisp plumage and chicks on the ledges.

Low tide on an estuary concentrates birds on the exposed mud, where they can be watched at close range from a hide or a sea wall. After a gale, look along the strandline for birds feeding on washed-up material, and check reservoirs and gravel pits for roosts in the late afternoon.

Fieldcraft and conservation notes

Do not feed gulls, and do not eat chips in the middle of a flock. Birds that associate people with food become aggressive, snatch from the hand, and are then treated as a nuisance; the usual advice is to keep food out of sight and to move away rather than to reward a bird by dropping something.

Where colonies form on rooftops, the practical issues are noise, droppings and occasional aggression towards people near nest ledges. Colour-ringed birds are worth reporting to the relevant ringing scheme - a single resighting of a ringed bird contributes directly to studies of survival and movement, and it costs the observer nothing.

Common questions

How do I tell a Herring Gull from a Lesser Black-backed Gull?: Look at the legs and the back. Herring Gulls almost always have pink legs and a pale grey back, while Lesser Black-backed Gulls have yellow legs and a distinctly darker slate-grey back.
Why is that gull stamping its feet on the grass?: It is generally thought to be a way of making earthworms and other soil animals move. The vibration appears to bring prey to the surface, and gulls often repeat the pattern before pecking at the ground.
How long does it take a gull to look like an adult?: Herring Gulls take four years. First-winter birds are mottled brown, second-years show a grey back with brown wing coverts, and third-years are close to adult but usually retain some brown in the wing.
Should I feed the gulls at the seaside?: It is generally discouraged. Gulls that learn to associate people with food become bold and snatch food from the hand, and the resulting complaints often lead to the birds being treated as a problem rather than protected wildlife.