The Laughing Gull

Laughing Gull by Raymond Gehman

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.

Flock of Laughing Gulls Photographic Print

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.

Laughing Gulls Mating Stretched Canvas Poster Print

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.

Laughing Gulls against a Blue Sky Photographic Poster Print