Laughing Gull

The Laughing Gull is a familiar, medium-sized gull of warm-water coastlines, instantly recognizable in summer by its jet-black hood, drooping blood-red bill, and sooty gray wings. Slimmer and more buoyant in flight than the larger white-headed gulls, it has a graceful, almost tern-like silhouette with long, pointed wings and a slightly hunched posture on the ground.

In breeding plumage the head is fully black, contrasting with a dark gray mantle, white underparts, and black legs; the bill is deep red and slightly drooped at the tip. In non-breeding plumage the black hood is lost, leaving a white head with a smudgy dusky wash behind the eye, and the bill dulls to blackish. Juveniles are brown and streaky, gradually acquiring adult plumage over about three years.

Highly social and opportunistic, Laughing Gulls are a constant presence around fishing piers, beaches, and boardwalks, often bold enough to snatch food directly from picnickers.

Key field marks

• Full black hood in breeding plumage with white eye crescents above and below the eye
• Long, drooping, deep red bill (blackish in winter)
• Dark slate-gray mantle and wings with black wingtips lacking large white spots
• Black legs
• Slim, long-winged, buoyant flight silhouette

Similar species

• Franklin's Gull: smaller and stockier, with thicker white eye crescents, a white band separating the black wingtip from the gray of the wing, and often a pink blush to the breast; mainly an interior/prairie species, scarcer on the coast.
• Black-headed Gull: chocolate-brown (not black) hood, paler gray mantle, and a bold white wedge on the leading edge of the outer wing.
• Bonaparte's Gull: much smaller, black bill, orange-red legs, and a white wedge in the outer wing.

Habitat

Laughing Gulls favor warm coastal habitats: sandy beaches, salt marshes, tidal flats, harbors, and piers, rarely venturing far inland except locally around large lakes or landfills.

Range and migration

They breed colonially along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the United States, the Caribbean, and parts of Mexico and northern South America. Northern populations withdraw southward in winter, with birds wintering from the Gulf Coast south through Central America and into northern South America, while populations in the Caribbean and Gulf tend to be resident year-round.

Behavior

Gregarious and opportunistic, Laughing Gulls often follow fishing boats, forage in mixed flocks with terns and pelicans, and readily scavenge human food. They frequently pirate fish from Brown Pelicans as the pelicans surface after a plunge-dive.

Voice

The species is named for its loud, cackling call, often rendered as "ha-ha-ha-ha-ha," delivered with the head thrown back, a sound that carries widely across beaches and marshes.

Feeding

Highly opportunistic, feeding on small fish, marine invertebrates, insects, and readily taking scraps and refuse near people.

Nesting and breeding

Laughing Gulls nest in dense colonies on marsh islands, dunes, and barrier beaches, building a simple scrape or platform nest of grasses. Clutches typically contain two to four eggs, incubated by both parents for around three weeks; chicks are mobile soon after hatching but remain near the nest and are fed by the parents.