Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla)

Spend much time along the Gulf Coast and sooner or later you will hear a Laughing Gull.

Probably sooner.

Their loud, almost ridiculous calls spill across beaches, bays, fishing piers, parking lots, and marinas. During breeding season, adults are equally conspicuous visually, with crisp black heads, white eye crescents, deep red bills, and dark gray wings.

Laughing Gulls are primarily coastal birds. Along the Gulf of Mexico, they can be seen throughout the year, and Texas beaches and estuaries provide excellent places to watch them feeding, resting, nesting, and occasionally attempting to steal somebody else’s lunch.

Quick Facts

Common name	Laughing Gull
Scientific name	Leucophaeus atricilla
Family	Laridae
Order	Charadriiformes
Length	15.3–18.1 inches
Wingspan	36.2–47.2 inches
Weight	7.2–13.1 ounces
Diet	Fish, crustaceans, insects, mollusks, eggs, berries, carrion, and scavenged food
Habitat	Beaches, bays, estuaries, salt marshes, coastal islands, mudflats, and human-developed coastal areas
Conservation status	Least Concern
Texas Gulf Coast status	Common coastal resident and breeder

How to Identify a Laughing Gull

Adult Laughing Gulls are medium-sized, slender gulls with relatively long wings and a slightly drooping bill.

During breeding season, identification is fairly straightforward.

Look for:

• A dark black hood
• Thin white crescents around the eye
• A reddish bill
• Dark gray back and wings
• White chest and belly
• Black outer wing feathers
• Dark reddish to nearly black legs

The white arcs above and below the eye are especially attractive when you get a close view.

They are considerably smaller and more delicate than the big American Herring Gulls that also occur along the coast.

And unlike the stereotypical pale gray gull, Laughing Gulls have noticeably dark gray upperparts.

Breeding vs. Nonbreeding Plumage

One of the most interesting things about Laughing Gulls is how different adults look throughout the year.

Breeding Adult

During spring and summer, adults wear their most dramatic plumage.

The entire head becomes black, creating a sharp contrast with the white neck and underparts. The bill becomes rich reddish, and the legs may also show reddish coloration. Thin white eye crescents stand out against the dark head.

This is the classic Laughing Gull most people recognize from summer trips to the beach.

Nonbreeding Adult

After breeding season, the black hood disappears.

The head becomes mostly white, often retaining a grayish or black smudge around and behind the eye. The bill becomes darker as well.

The dark gray back remains, however, making it a useful identification feature year-round.

If you only know Laughing Gulls from their summer plumage, a winter bird can look surprisingly unfamiliar.

What Do Juvenile Laughing Gulls Look Like?

Young Laughing Gulls complicate things even further.

Juveniles are predominantly brown, with a scaly-looking pattern across the back and wings. They lack the crisp white-and-gray appearance of adults and have dark bills and legs.

As they mature, gray feathers gradually replace the brown ones.

Laughing Gulls take roughly two to three years to acquire full adult plumage, which means coastal flocks may contain birds wearing several awkward combinations of brown, gray, white, and black.

If you enjoy bird identification, gull flocks are basically nature’s version of an advanced-placement exam.

Why Is It Called a Laughing Gull?

For once, a bird’s common name is wonderfully descriptive.

The Laughing Gull’s best-known call is a loud, descending series of notes that really can sound like exaggerated laughter.

The call may continue for three seconds or longer and is especially noticeable around breeding colonies. Laughing Gulls also produce shorter alarm calls when predators, people, or other gulls approach too closely.

A quiet beach suddenly occupied by a flock of Laughing Gulls does not remain quiet for long.

What Do Laughing Gulls Eat?

Almost anything they can get.

Laughing Gulls are opportunistic omnivores with an extraordinarily varied diet.

Natural foods include:

• Small fish
• Crabs
• Crab eggs
• Shrimp and other crustaceans
• Snails
• Earthworms
• Insects
• Squid
• Berries
• Eggs and occasionally young of other birds

They will also eat carrion, fishing scraps, garbage, and food discarded by people.

That flexible diet is one reason Laughing Gulls do so well around humans.

They can forage naturally along a mudflat in the morning and patrol a beachfront parking lot for dropped french fries by afternoon.

Wildlife adaptability is not always glamorous.

It is often effective.

How Laughing Gulls Hunt

Laughing Gulls use an impressive collection of feeding techniques.

They walk along shorelines picking prey from the sand, wade in shallow water, swim, seize insects, dip down to grab food from the water’s surface, and plunge toward aquatic prey from the air.

They also follow fishing boats and gather around areas where food becomes temporarily abundant.

Agricultural fields can attract them as well. Machinery disturbing the soil exposes insects, earthworms, and other edible animals, and Laughing Gulls quickly learn to take advantage.

But some of their most entertaining behavior involves other birds.

The Laughing Gull and the Brown Pelican

Laughing Gulls are accomplished thieves.

A Brown Pelican makes a spectacular dive, surfaces with a pouch full of fish and seawater…

…and the gulls arrive.

Laughing Gulls may hover directly above a feeding pelican waiting for a fish to escape. Some even land on or near the pelican’s head and attempt to grab fish from its bill pouch.

This behavior is a form of kleptoparasitism—stealing food captured by another animal.

The pelican does all the dramatic plunging.

The gull investigates the possibility of a management position.

Habitat

Laughing Gulls are strongly associated with coastal environments.

Typical habitats include:

• Sandy beaches
• Salt marshes
• Coastal bays
• Estuaries
• Mudflats
• Barrier islands
• Mangroves farther south
• Fishing piers
• Marinas
• Coastal agricultural fields
• Landfills and other human-modified areas

They occur only occasionally far inland. During migration and winter, they may use coastal lakes and other waters a short distance from the shoreline.

Nesting habitat is more specialized.

Laughing Gulls prefer coastal islands, marshes, beaches, and similar locations where terrestrial predators have difficulty reaching their nests. Artificial islands created from dredged material can also provide valuable nesting sites.

Laughing Gulls on the Texas Gulf Coast

The Texas coast is prime Laughing Gull country.

They are familiar around beaches, bays, estuaries, barrier islands, fishing areas, and coastal communities. Along the Upper Laguna Madre, These birds are among the most commonly recorded birds, alongside Sanderlings and Royal Terns.

Natural and artificial islands scattered through Texas bays are particularly valuable to colonial waterbirds.

Unlike herons, spoonbills, and ibises that often place nests in shrubs or other elevated vegetation, gulls are generally ground nesters. Isolated islands provide nesting sites while reducing access for coyotes, raccoons, and other terrestrial predators.

These islands may look like little more than patches of sand, shell, vegetation, or dredged material from a distance.

To nesting birds, they can be prime real estate.

Behavior

Laughing Gulls are highly social.

They gather in groups to feed and rest, and nesting colonies may contain hundreds or thousands of birds. In exceptional cases, colonies can contain tens of thousands of breeding pairs.

Living in such crowded conditions requires communication.

Laughing Gulls use an assortment of calls and ritualized postures to claim space, threaten neighbors, submit to more dominant birds, and defend nests.

A gull may stretch its neck toward another bird, toss its head backward while calling, ruffle its feathers, or flap its wings as part of these displays.

They are generally active during the day, but breeding birds may also forage at night. Artificial lights can attract flying insects, giving gulls another opportunity for an easy meal.

Nesting and Life History

Laughing Gulls breed in colonies along the coast.

Nests are usually built on the ground among grasses, salt-marsh vegetation, sand, shell, rocks, or mats of dead vegetation.

Because coastal flooding is always a danger, adults typically select slightly elevated spots when possible.

Both members of the pair help with nest building.

Males tend to gather more of the nesting material, while females arrange grasses and marsh vegetation into a shallow cup. If flooding or storms damage the nest, the adults may pile on additional material to repair or raise it.

A typical clutch contains two to four eggs.

Both parents participate in incubation, which generally lasts 22–27 days. The chicks hatch covered in highly camouflaged down and may leave the nest cup within a day, although they remain nearby.

Both parents feed the young.

The chicks become capable of flight at around five weeks.

Laughing Gull Chicks

Baby Laughing Gulls look nothing like the sleek adults standing around a beach.

Their mottled brown-and-tan down blends into sand, dry vegetation, and shell-covered nesting areas.

That camouflage matters.

Although colonies offer some protection through sheer numbers and aggressive adults, gull chicks remain vulnerable to predators.

The young also leave the nest surprisingly early. Instead of remaining confined to a nest for weeks like a baby songbird, a gull chick can move around the nesting area while its parents continue to feed and protect it.

One particularly interesting bit of parenting happens after hatching.

Adults remove empty eggshells from the nest. Pieces of broken shell could accidentally cover an unhatched egg and interfere with the chick’s ability to emerge.

Not bad housekeeping for a bird willing to eat out of a dumpster.

Conservation Status

Laughing Gulls are currently considered Least Concern and remain abundant across much of their range.

That abundance follows a much darker chapter in their history.

During the late 1800s, Laughing Gull colonies were heavily exploited for eggs and feathers. Feathers from gulls and many other birds were used extensively in the fashion industry’s plume trade.

Some northeastern colonies were nearly wiped out.

Legal protection allowed populations to recover substantially during the following century.

Today, coastal development, disturbance of nesting colonies, habitat loss, and flooding remain potential problems at individual colonies even though the species as a whole remains widespread.

Protection of barrier islands, marshes, and other isolated nesting areas benefits Laughing Gulls along with terns, skimmers, oystercatchers, pelicans, and many other coastal birds.

Fun Facts About Laughing Gulls

• Their laugh really does inspire their name. Their loud descending call is one of the most recognizable sounds of Atlantic and Gulf Coast beaches.
• They change heads with the seasons. Adults have a crisp black hood during breeding season but a mostly white head during winter.
• Young birds take years to look like adults. Full adult plumage develops over roughly two to three years.
• They steal fish from pelicans. Laughing Gulls regularly attempt to snatch prey from Brown Pelicans after the larger birds surface from a dive.
• They sometimes hunt after dark. Breeding birds may forage at night and can catch insects attracted to lights.
• Both parents build the nest. A single male may even begin constructing one before finding a mate.
• They’re long-lived birds. The oldest known banded Laughing Gull reached at least 22 years of age.
• Colonies can be enormous. Some nesting colonies have contained as many as 25,000 breeding pairs.
• They aren’t picky eaters. Fish, insects, crabs, squid, berries, eggs, garbage, fishing scraps, and beach snacks can all end up on the menu.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are Laughing Gulls common in Texas?

Yes. Laughing Gulls are common along the Texas Gulf Coast and are especially associated with beaches, bays, estuaries, and coastal islands. Texas Parks and Wildlife lists them among the most commonly recorded birds in the Upper Laguna Madre.

Do Laughing Gulls live in Texas year-round?

They can be found along the Gulf Coast throughout the year. Populations farther north along the Atlantic coast are much more migratory, with many birds moving south for winter.

Why does a Laughing Gull have a black head?

The black hood is part of its breeding plumage. After the breeding season, adults molt into nonbreeding plumage and the head becomes mostly white with dusky gray or black markings around the eye.

Are Laughing Gulls born brown?

Young Laughing Gulls are brown and heavily patterned. They gradually replace those juvenile feathers as they mature and may take two to three years to acquire complete adult plumage.

Why do Laughing Gulls follow pelicans?

Food.

Laughing Gulls often attempt to steal fish from Brown Pelicans after the pelicans dive. They may hover around the bird’s head or try to grab a fish as it handles its catch.

Can Laughing Gulls swim?

Yes. Laughing Gulls regularly swim and feed from the water’s surface in addition to walking, flying, and wading while searching for food.

Should you feed Laughing Gulls at the beach?

It is better to let them find natural food.

Laughing Gulls are already remarkably good at exploiting human food sources, and feeding encourages birds to crowd around people rather than forage naturally. Keeping food and trash secure also reduces wildlife conflicts at beaches and parks.

Where do Laughing Gulls nest?

They generally nest on the ground in coastal marshes, sandy areas, and islands. Isolated natural and dredge-spoil islands are particularly useful because they provide some protection from terrestrial predators.

Naturalist’s Note

The Laughing Gull may be one of the easiest birds on the Texas coast to take for granted.

There is always another one.

One standing beside the fishing pier. Three arguing over something unidentifiable in the sand. Twenty lined up along a parking lot. Another circling overhead and loudly announcing its opinion about absolutely everything.

But common birds are often the ones that reward a closer look.

In summer, that plain old “seagull” suddenly becomes a remarkably handsome bird. The black hood is sharp and glossy, the bill is deep red, and tiny white crescents frame the eyes.

Then there is the personality.

Watch long enough and you may see one catching insects, snatching food from the surf, arguing with its neighbor, stealing a fish from a pelican, or screaming triumphantly over a prize that turns out to be half a french fry.

They are clever, adaptable, opportunistic, and completely at home where land meets sea.

And that laugh?

After enough time on the Gulf Coast, it stops sounding like background noise.

It sounds like home.

Similar Species

Several gulls seen in Texas can create identification headaches, especially outside breeding season.

• Franklin’s Gull – The most obvious look-alike during breeding season. Both have dark heads and reddish bills, but Franklin’s Gulls are smaller and have prominent white spots on the black wingtips. They are primarily migrants through Texas rather than characteristic coastal residents.
• Ring-billed Gull – Common in Texas during the cooler months. Adults have much paler gray backs, yellow bills with a black ring, yellowish legs, and white heads rather than the breeding Laughing Gull’s black hood.
• American Herring Gull – Much larger and heavier, with a pale gray back and thick bill. Young Herring Gulls can be thoroughly brown, but their bulkier proportions help separate them from juvenile Laughing Gulls.
• Bonaparte’s Gull – Smaller and more delicate. Breeding adults have a dark hood, but their small black bill, paler wings, and different wing pattern distinguish them from Laughing Gulls.
• Royal Tern – Frequently shares Texas beaches with Laughing Gulls. It has a long orange bill, much more pointed wings, and a shaggy black crest rather than a gull-shaped hood.