Glaucous Gull

Glaucous Gull, breeding adult (Definitive Alternate plumage); Ventura, CA

About the photographs

About the map

Glaucous Gull, adult, non-breeding (Definitive Basic); Homer, AK; February

Glaucous Gull, juvenile; Homer, AK; September

Glaucous Gull, 1st summer (Alternate I plumage); Ventura, CA; March

Glaucous Gull breeding adult (left) at nest site with young (right); Cape Atholl, Greenland; July

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1. Description
2. Sound
3. Conservation Status
4. Other Names
5. Cool Facts
6. Full detailed species account

A huge gull of the frozen North, the Glaucous Gull breeds across most of the high Arctic. It winters farther north than most gulls, but it does turn up as far south as California and Virginia.

Description

• Large gull.
• Head and underparts white.
• Back light gray.
• Wingtips white.
• Bill yellow with red spot near tip of lower mandible.

• Size: 68 cm (27 in)
• Wingspan: 149-182 cm (59-72 in)
• Weight: 1250-2700 g (44.13-95.31 ounces)

Sex Differences

Sexes alike in plumage, male larger than females.

Sound

A low "kek, kek, kek" and a deep "keow."

Conservation Status

Few changes in population size or distribution reported in North America or globally.

Other Names

Goéland bourgmestre (French)

Cool Facts

• First- and second-year Glaucous Gulls appear to move farther southward than adults, and most individuals seen in the southern portion of the winter range are immatures.
• The Glaucous Gull is an active predator at seabird nesting colonies. It will walk into colonies and take eggs and chicks left unprotected, and will fly above a foraging arctic fox or person disturbing the colony and take eggs and chicks that are exposed during the disturbance.

Sources used to construct this page:

Gilchrist, H. G. 2001. Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus). In The Birds of North America, No. 573 (A. Poole and F. Gill, eds.). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA.