10

Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis) German name(s): "Ringschnabelmöwe" Size: 41-49 cm; wing span: 1.12-1.24 m Body mass: 300-700 g (males heavier than females) Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.32-0.45

Europe: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Great Skua Arctic Skua Pomarine Skua Caspian Gull Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull American Herring Gull European Herring Gull Yellow-legged Gull Audouin's Gull Slender-billed Gull Iceland Gull Common Gull Ring-billed Gull Black-headed Gull Bonaparte's Gull Mediterranean Gull Little Gull Sabine's Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Gull-billed Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Little Tern Forster's Tern Whiskered Tern Black Tern White-winged Black Tern Atlantic Puffin Razorbill Common Guillemot Black Guillemot Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Ring-billed Gulls are medium-sized white-headed gulls. They take up to 3 years to reach maturity, so there are 4 phases of plumage. Adults also have slightly different breeding and eclipse plumages. In breeding plumage head, neck, rump, tail and front are white, while the upperwings are light-grey. The upperwings have a small black "mirror", with small white spots and a faint white crescent on the folded wings. The irises of adults are pale. The bill is also yellow, with a black band all around the bill near the tip. Legs and feet are also yellowish. In eclipse the head is streaked grey. In second-year immature birds also parts of the front are streaked grey, the irises are still dark and the bill is more greenish. In first-year birds there is still some brown left on the wing coverts, which have dark panels. The individual feathers have white outer edges. The mirrors do not show white spots yet.

Taxonomy, classification See Ring-billed Gull at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org . The global distribution of the Ring-billed Gull is available HERE . Ring-billed Gulls are a mostly migratory species of North America. Apart from a small population in the North-west of the US, the only major sedentary population of Ring-billed Gulls stays around the eastern Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence River. The breeding areas of the migratory population extend almost across the width of the North-American continent, from roughly the US/Canada border (further South in the centre of the continent) to the latitude of the southern Hudson Bay. They do NOT breed in the western half of British Columbia, in Alaska or in northern Canada. The wintering grounds are along both the East and West coast, from about the US/Canada border on both sides, down to central Mexico and Cuba (but not the rainforest-covered Yucatan peninsula). They also overwinter inland, in Mexico and the southern states of the US. Anywhere in between those two regions they can be found on migration. In Europe, Ring-billed Gulls are found only as vagrants, with several records per year from the British isles and Ireland and rarer appearances also along the coastlines of the North Sea and the Atlantic, as far southward as Iberia. They visit Europe only outside the breeding season and stay only in coastal areas.

Sightings Click here for sighting information G. Pinelas reports finding a Ring-billed Gull at Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, in the timeframe July/August 2017. J. Pires spotted a Ring-billed Gull in Moita, Setubal, Portugal, in January 2025.

Photos

ADULT

NON-BREEDING

Close-up lateral view of an adult Ring-billed Gull in non-breeding plumage; note the pale iris of an adult bird and the light-grey streaking of the head, indicating eclipse (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Moita, Setubal, Portugal, January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Ring-billed Gull in non-breeding plumage yawning? (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Moita, Setubal, Portugal, January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Ring-billed Gull in non-breeding plumage surrounded by other gulls (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Moita, Setubal, Portugal, January 2025]

Close-up lateral view of a Ring-billed Gull in non-breeding plumage surrounded by other gulls (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Moita, Setubal, Portugal, January 2025]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Close-up frontal portrait of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Frontal view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Close-up near-frontal portrait of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-frontal view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Close-up lateral portrait of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Close-up near-lateral portrait of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Near-lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Near-lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull, here together with an adult Lesser Black-backed Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Close-up lateral portrait of a Ring-billed Gull - the worn, brownish feathers on the wings indicate that this bird is still in immature plumage; this is probably a second calendar year bird (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Lateral view of a Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Near-dorsal view of an immature Ring-billed Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Immature Ring-billed Gull roosting with young Lesser Black-backed Gulls (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Immature Ring-billed Gull, centre, roosting with Lesser Black-backed Gulls (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, July 2017]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Vagrant

Elementary unit: Solitary

In Europe, Ring-billed Gulls are vagrants and found only along the western coastline.

Food, Diet

Near-lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull picking up something edible (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull with its prey (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

Lateral view of an immature Ring-billed Gull with its prey (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Fonte da Telha, Costa da Caparica, Portugal, August 2017]

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.