Glaucous Gull
Glaucous Gulls are powerful, imposing gulls of the tundra and sea coasts of the high Arctic. Distinguished from other gulls by their pale gray upperparts, immaculate white wing tips, and hulking proportions, they cross paths with people mostly in winter, when the gulls may be found on much of the coastline of the United States. The breeding behavior and population dynamics of the species remain relatively poorly understood, in large part because of the remoteness of its nesting grounds.

Glaucous Gulls breed along most of the northern Alaskan and Canadian coasts, including many islands, as well as Greenland, Iceland, the northern coasts and islands of Scandinavia and Russia. They winter along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of North America, from Labrador to North Carolina, and from the Aleutian archipelago to northern California. They also winter on the Great Lakes, and occur irregularly across inland North America all the way to the Gulf Coast.
Glaucous Gull Range Map

Glaucous Gulls have a highly varied diet, which comprises fish, crustaceans, mollusks, bird eggs and chicks (including those of geese, ducks, alcids, and rarely, other Glaucous Gulls), rodents, berries, and seaweed. They often swallow their prey whole — even large items such as murre eggs and waterfowl chicks. Large adult male Glaucous Gulls can even swallow murre chicks in flight. Glaucous Gulls also feed on human-created garbage during migration and in winter. Glaucous Gulls drink both salt and fresh water, preferring the latter; they make trips to rivers or melt ponds on sea ice to drink fresh water.

Spacing of Glaucous Gull nests is highly variable; single pairs sometimes nest in isolation, while in other cases, dozens of pairs may nest together in rather dense colonies. Nests are simple depressions on the ground, lined with grass, twigs, or other material. Glaucous Gulls often nest on cliff ledges above the sea coast, on rock scree at cliff bottoms, or on grassy areas at the tops of cliffs. Some nests are located at the edges of ponds on open tundra. Glaucous Gulls also sometimes nest on beaches, where they lay eggs on the gravel in depressions lined with seaweed. Glaucous Gull pairs show strong fidelity to successful nest sites, returning year after year.

Clutches generally consist of three eggs. Parents take turns incubating eggs; while one is on the eggs, the other often stands guard nearby. Adults feed their broods four to six times per day by regurgitating a mass of food onto the ground, or directly into the young birds’ mouths. Fledging occurs about 45 to 50 days after hatching.

A large, pale gull. Size averages slightly larger than Herring Gull, with which Glaucous Gull sometimes hybridizes. Sexes show similar plumage; males are larger, on average, than females.

Like many gull species, Glaucous Gulls show different plumages in four identifiable age groups: first-year, second year, third-year, and adult. Adults have very pale gray mantles, with pure white wing tips. Bill is yellow with a red spot near the tip of the lower mandible. Eyes are yellow, with yellow orbital rings. Breeding adults have entirely white heads; in winter, adults show some brown streaking on the crown and nape.

First-year and second-year Glaucous Gulls are outwardly similar to each other, with largely white plumage with some variably subtle brown checkering on the mantle (less on first-year birds), and a pink bill with a black tip. First-year birds have brown eyes, and second-year birds have yellow eyes. By the third year of life, Glaucous Gulls have pale gray mantles, with some faint brown mottling on the wings, rump, and/or tail. In the third year, bill is yellow with a black ring near the tip.


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