Herring Gull

Goéland argenté

Larus argentatus

• Description

  The Herring Gulls is a very common bird. The head, body, and tail are white, the bill is yellow with a red spot on the lower tip, and the legs are pink or flesh-coloured. The backs and upper wing surfaces of adult gulls are grey, and the tips of their outermost flight feathers are black with a white spot. Immature birds are a mottled brown and take four years to develop full adult plumage.

• Habitat

  Bays and Estuaries, Beaches & Sand Dunes, Coastal Shorelines, Coastal Zone, Fields, Fresh Water Ponds, Freshwater Marshes, Mudflats, Rivers, Salt Marshes, Sandflats, Subtidal

• Interesting Fact

  The red spot on the parent’s bill gets pecked at by young chicks, causing the adult (whether experienced or not) to regurgitate food.