The Laughing Gull
All dressed up and not a lady in sight.
Description
The Laughing Gull is a medium size bird measuring sixteen inches in length. Its breeding plumage is distinctly different from its non-breeding plumage. Its body is white with a gray mantle. Its legs and wingtips are black. During breeding season it sports a black hood, with white crescents above and below the eyes. Its bill is red and during breeding season its breast takes on a rosy hue. They lose their dark feathers during the fall molt and are white-headed through the winter. The Laughing Gull
Laughing Gulls with...
Seagull
Just Chillin'
Laughing Gulls
Laughing Gulls and B...
Gulls at Reed's Beac...
Range and Habitat
The Laughing Gull is a shorebird. It rarely ventures inland. It can be seen on the beaches along the Atlantic Seaboard and the Gulf Coast. It is a very social bird, migrating, resting, and hunting in large groups. 
I Love the Beach
Mating and Nesting
The Laughing Gull is a social bird and will nest in large colonies in estuaries or on barrier beaches or salt marshes. They build their nests on the ground in dense vegetation. The breeding colony can consist of as many as a thousand birds. Laughing Gulls residing in the northern part of the region will line their nests with grasses and other vegetation, but birds in the southern regions will make do with a hollow in the sand.The female will lay two to three brown speckled eggs. They are incubated for three to four weeks by both the male and the female. The hatchlings can walk soon after hatching, but remain near the nest for some time. Predation is an issue. Only one in five hatchlings survive beyond the eighth week, when it's finally strong enough to fly. It will take three years for the young to reach breeding age.
Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia
Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia: A Guide to Field Identification (Princeton Field Guides)
Amazon Price: $26.60 (as of 07/10/2009)
Shorebirds of North America, Europe, and Asia is divided into two sections for easy use. The first section shows the shorebirds in standard poses and the second shows them in flight. I prefer this field guide to the others because shorebirds rarely stay still long enough to identify them. With flight illustrations I have a better chance at identifying them.
Diet
Laughing Gulls, like so many other gull species, are opportunistic feeders. They will eat fish, insects, marine invertebrates, and occasionally waders and other small shorebirds. They are not good fishermen and rarely manage to catch their prey, but they are excellent thieves. They will rob a pelican of its meal by landing on its head as it surfaces, plucking the pelican's catch from its bill.The Laughing Gull is a convenient scavenger to have around. They will eat the fish stranded by the tide, and any edible garbage left on the beach.
The Laughing Gull is a noisy, quarrelsome, and often aggressive bird. It will steal prey and feed on the eggs and young of other birds. If they come across an injured wader, they have no qualms about turning it into a meal.
Voice
The Laughing Gull is named for its call, a loud and often annoying ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. 
We're willing to share the beach, but not give it up.
Conservation Status
The population of Laughing Gulls declined in the 1900's but has sense recovered. The biggest concern is loss of nesting habitat and predication. Only a small percent of the young survive to adulthood. 101 Ways to Help Birds
101 Ways to Help Birds
Amazon Price: $15.56 (as of 07/10/2009)
101 Ways to Help Birds offers 101 ways for individuals to help birds and bird populations as a whole, and it explains how these actions make a difference. Any bird lover knows that birds and animals alike need our help. Without it, we will lose more and we've lost enough as it is.
Selecting a Pair of Bird Watching Binoculars
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Selecting a Pair of Bird Watching Binoculars
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When I look out my window and watch the birds flutter around the birdfeeder, I really don't need a pair of binoculars or a scope to enjoy the sight. I frequently stop by the window and watch the birds for a minute or two between household tasks. (Occ...
The Laughing Gull
Other Sun Worshiping Beach Bums
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Brown Pelican
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The Brown Pelican is a large, stocky bird with a twelve inch bill and trademark throat pouch. Although it is considered a large bird, it is the smallest of the eight species of pelicans found in the world today. It is a coastal bird with two subspeci...
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Sanderlings
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Sanderlings are the most widespread of all the shorebirds. They are often seen on beaches scurrying after waves as they roll back to the sea. They are looking for crustaceans and mollusks exposed by the retreating water.
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Herring Gulls
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The Herring Gull is a familiar bird. It is often seen along the coast and in coastal urban settings. It has a gray mantle and black wing-tips and can be seen dining in garbage dumps and following the fishing vessels to shore.
Audubon Masterpieces
Audubon's masterpieces: 150 prints from the Birds of America
Amazon Price: (as of 07/10/2009)
John James Audubon spent a lifetime recording the behavior of, and drawing the birds of North America. Audubon's Masterpieces is a collection of 150 of his best works.
Are you willing to share the beach with our feathered friends?
marsha32 wrote...
Since I don't live anywhere near a beach I can't say that I've ever seen these.
Posted May 21, 2009
naturegirl7 wrote...
Welcome to the Naturally Native Squids group. Don't forget to add your lens links to the appropriate plexos and vote for them.
Posted October 25, 2008
JaguarJulie wrote...
Ah, I've got several pictures of these rascally birds. When we go to Jax Beach or St. Augustine Beach, you can see and hear these gulls.
Posted October 11, 2008
About the Author
Lensmaster ElizabethJeanAllen, aka Lizzy Jean, has been a member since March 16 2008, has rated 3,690 lenses, favorited 454, and has created 169 lenses from scratch. Lizzy Jean donates their royalties to Squidoo Charity Fund. This member's top-ranked page is "The Mallard Duck". See all my lenses
Why birds Do That
Why Birds Do That: 40 Distinctive Bird Behaviors Explained & Photographed
Amazon Price: $12.44 (as of 07/10/2009)
Birds are fascinating. Their behavior is complex, often comical. Some sing while others do not. Why Birds Do That explains forty distinctive bird behaviors and is enhanced with numerous photographs. It is a must have book for both the backyard bird watcher as well as the avid birder.
Resources used to construct this page.
Peterson, T.P. & Peterson, V.M. 2002. Birds of Eastern and Central North America, Fifth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, New York, N.Y.
All About Birds: Laughing Gull
Honolulu Zoo
by ElizabethJeanAllen
I tell my students to Learn from the Past, Live in the Present, and Plan for the Future. With Squidoo I can do all three.
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