#leucophaeus

[best-bird-tournament]

Leucophaeus gull runoff

Which is the best bird?

Franklin's gull

Laughing gull

Voting ended onAug 15, 2025

[alonglistofbirds]

[2972/11080] Dolphin gull - Leucophaeus scoresbii

Order: Charadriiformes Suborder: Lari Family: Laridae (gulls, terns and skimmers)

Photo credit: Nathan Wall via Macaulay Library

[saritawolf]

Laughing Gull (breeding plumage) (Leucophaeus atricilla) - (c) SaritaWolf - please do not repost

[snailkites]

Some gulls. (Ring-billed, Laughing, and Lesser Black-backed)

[best-bird-tournament]

Leucophaeus gull

Which is the best bird?

Dolphin gull

Grey gull

Lava gull

Laughing gull

Franklin's gull

Voting ended onMay 18, 2025

[faguscarolinensis]

Leucophaeus atricilla / Laughing Gull in the Pine Island Sound Aquatic Preserve in Bokeelia, FL

[dendroica]

Gray Gull (Leucophaeus modestus)

The Gray Gull is one of the most common species on the Pacific Coast influenced by the Humboldt Current. For years it was a mystery as to where this species bred. They were seen copulating on the coast, vocalizing and displaying, but no nests were found. Given the many thousands present on shore it was a paradox that no colonies had been discovered. It was not until the early 1970s that it was confirmed that this gull breeds deep in the absolute desert of northern Chile. It takes flat areas in the desert, where often no measurable rainfall exists in a year, a decade, or more. Lacking the basic element of life, water, these breeding areas are surprisingly safe as there are few to no predators there. As the gulls are highly mobile they can commute from the inland colonies to the sea daily and provide food to the chicks. It is thought that the gray plumage coloration is an adaptation to life in hot, sunny places, as melanin keeps feathers from becoming faded and weakened by light, and that they may be able to use the dark plumage to radiate heat more efficiently than translucent white plumage. Most other desert nesting gulls, even if unrelated, are gray. The Gray Gull is vocally quite similar to the Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) and is likely closely related to it.

(Read more at Neotropical Birds)

[dendroica]

Dolphin Gull (Leucophaeus scoresbii)

The Dolphin Gull is a Patagonian endemic distributed in the temperate and sub-Antarctic coastline of Chile, Tierra del Fuego and Argentina. It is found along rocky coastline often in the vicinity of fresh water, seabird and marine mammal colonies, slaughterhouses, farmyards and even sewers. Though it could be confused with the two other dark-backed gulls found in its range, Band-tailed and Kelp, its obvious bright red bulbous bill and dusky grey head and underparts make it quite distinctive. Its juvenile plumage is also unique among gulls having a dark gray hood, whitish belly and slaty-brown wing coverts. Its main source of food is scavenged carrion, bird eggs and chicks, other marine invertebrates. It can often be found scavenging around marine mammals for dead fish, placentae, and in particular, feces.

(via Neotropical Birds)