BIRDQUEST2004

Locally this is Ottawa’s most common Gull, they can be found rooting through your garbage if you put it out the night before or outside any fast food business, ready to snatch any food that drops from the table.

It is our smallest white headed gull, has a slender bill with a broad black ring, yellow legs, pale iris and pale gray mantle.

The Ring-billed can be found virtually anywhere in Canada and the US, they winter in the south but are pretty hardy.

1st Winter

2nd Winter

Non-breeding

Breeding

Breeding in Flight

Ciao for now

The Great Black-backed Gull is our largest Gull in the ABA, unmistakable in a crowd. Huge bill, large size, black back and pink legs can help in identifying this gull.
It goes through 4 changes before reaching adult plumage, 1st winter, 1st summer, 2nd winter and 3rd winter.

Some spend their summers on the northern coastline of Quebec, but a majority of the birds can be found year round from Newfoundland to the Carolinas year round. In winter they can be found further south all the way to Florida and the other Gulf States, some birds also end up in southern Ontario and the Great Lakes.

First Summer

First Winter

Third Winter

Adult

In all this series on Gulls, I am no expert and errors in ID can happen.

Ciao for now……..