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Laughing Gull
Laughing Gull midflight
Conservation status
Least Concern
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Aves Order: Charadriiformes Family: Laridae Genus: Larus Species: L. atricilla
Binomial name
Larus atricilla Linnaeus, 1758, Bahamas

The Laughing Gull, Larus atricilla, is a medium-sized gull of North and South America. It breeds on the Atlantic coast of North America, the Caribbean, southern California, USA, and northern South America. Northernmost populations migrate further south in winter, and this species occurs as a rare vagrant to western Europe, although there was a large influx into North-west Europe in late October 2005 when there was a minimum of 18 (and anywhere up to a possibly maximum of 35) individuals on one day in the UK alone. The Laughing Gull's English name is derived from its raucous kee-agh call, which sounds like a high pitched laugh "ha... ha... ha...".

This species is easy to identify. It is 36-41 cm long with a 98-110 cm wingspan. The summer adult's body is white apart from the dark grey back and wings and black head. Its wings are much darker grey than all other gulls of similar size except the smaller Franklin's Gull, and they have black tips without the white crescent shown by Franklin's. The bill is long and red. The black hood is mostly lost in winter.

Laughing Gulls take three years to reach adult plumage. Immature birds are always darker than most similar sized gulls other than Franklin's. First year birds are greyer below and have paler heads than first year Franklin's, and second years can be distinguished on the wing pattern and structure.

Laughing Gulls breed in coastal marshes and ponds in large colonies. The large nest, made largely from grasses, is constructed on the ground. The 3 or 4 greenish eggs are incubated for about three weeks. These are omnivores like most Larus gulls, and they will scavenge as well as seeking suitable small prey.

	Adult in mid-May	First winter	Adult winter
Juvenile	Adult at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands	Vagrant in winter plumage in the UK in late 2005

• BirdLife International (2004). Larus atricilla. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 11 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
• Seabirds by Harrison, ISBN 0-7470-1410-8
• "National Geographic" Field Guide to the Birds of North America ISBN 0-7922-6877-6
• Laughing Gull - Larus atricilla - USGS Patuxent Bird Identification InfoCente
• Laughing Gull Information and Photos - South Dakota Birds and Birding
• Laughing Gull Species Account - Cornell Lab of Ornithology
• Field Guide on Flickr

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Larus atricilla