Heermann's Gull

Larus heermanni

Near Threatened · IUCN Red List

NTNear ThreatenedOmnivoreCoastalPlatform nestLarge · 500 g

ID tip

This species looks distinctly different from other gulls. Adults have a medium gray body, blackish-gray wings and tail with white edges, and a red bill with a black tip. The head is dusky gray in non-breeding plumage and white in breeding plumage. Immatures resemble non-breeding adults but are darker and browner, and the bill is pink till the second winter. A few birds, no more than 1 in 200, have white primary coverts, which form a showy spot on the upper wing.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

When to see the Heermann's Gull

One bar for each month. Filled bars are the 9 months with records; pale bars are months with none. The wide bar is September, the month with the most records.

Where to see the Heermann's Gull

Regular range

The map shades 4 countries with regular records. Everything unshaded has no records. Countries are listed below the map.

About the Heermann's Gull

Heermann's gull is a gull resident in the United States, Mexico and extreme southwestern British Columbia, nearly all nesting on Isla Rasa in the Gulf of California. They are usually found near shores or well out to sea, very rarely inland. The species is named after Adolphus Lewis Heermann, nineteenth-century explorer and naturalist.

Text adapted from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Easily confused with

Side by side: Heermann's Gull vs Kelp Gull · Heermann's Gull vs Short-billed Gull · Heermann's Gull vs Iceland Gull · Glaucous Gull vs Heermann's Gull

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