ABOUT THIS SPECIES
LAUGHING GULL – (Species Account Weblog #66)
TAXONOMIC TREE:
- ORDER: Charadriiformes,
- FAMILY: Laridae,
- BINOMIAL NAME: Leucophaeus atricilla
Laughing Gull is a slender, medium-sized gull with lengthy wings. Medium-gray upperparts. Breeding plumage exhibits black head with white eye arcs, small white spots on black wingtips, and deep purple invoice and legs. Nonbreeding plumage has smudgy grey cheek and darkish invoice and legs. This small, black-hooded gull nests in colonies of as much as 25,000 pairs on sandy or rocky shores and on salt-marsh islands alongside the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of North America, in addition to on some Caribbean islands, the Gulf of California, and alongside the Pacific coast of Mexico. (from Birds of the World)
SIMILAR SPECIES
Unlikely to be confused with another North American gull besides Franklin’s Gull (Leucophaeus pipixcan). Common traits that distinguish Laughing Gull in all plumages from Franklin’s Gull embrace bigger measurement and heavier physique proportions, with significantly longer head, invoice, and legs, and longer, extra pointed wings. Laughing Gull invoice is longer, thicker, and barely drooped somewhat than brief and straight.
DISTRIBUTION
PERSONAL OBSERVATION ANECDOTES
In Costa Rica we noticed Laughing Gulls all alongside the shoreline close to Punta Leona and whereas on the boat tour on the mouth of the Tárcoles River.
PHOTO GALLERY
**A few of these Photograph Gallery pictures (all taken by me) have been taken in different close by nations.
RECENT BLOG POSTS
View the 5 most up-to-date Birds & Birding in Costa Rica collection weblog posts beneath.
