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Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers

50 Bird Species

Aleutian Tern

A slender, gray tern of coastal Alaska. Alternate Adult has gray back, wings, and underparts, forked white tail, white face, black cap and eyeline, white forehead, thin black bill, and black legs. Basic Adult has dark primaries, white underparts, blackish smudge on shoulder, and white head with black more...

Length: 30 cm Wingspan: 74 cm

Arctic Tern

One of several small white terns that do not attain full adult alternate plumage until at least their third summer (three years after hatch year), this species is slightly smaller, shorter-legged, and shorter-billed than similar Common, Forster's and Roseate terns. Alternate adult has gray back and w more...

Length: 30 cm Wingspan: 78 cm

Belcher's Gull

A stocky, medium-sized, four-year gull. Relatively long yellow legs and long, straight-edged, yellow bill with black ring and red tip. Dark eye. Adult: White underparts; slaty-black upperparts. Nonbreeding are dark-hooded with white eye arks. White head in breeding plumage contrasts with smoky-gray w more...

Length: 51 cm Wingspan: 124 cm

Black Noddy

A dark, tern-like bird, rare on Texas coast and Dry Tortugas in Florida. Adult, unusual in North America, is black with white cap, slender black bill, and short black legs. Juveniles and immatures are entirely dark with sharply contrasting white cap and pale wing coverts. Brown Noddy is browner overa more...

Length: 34 cm Wingspan: 76 cm

Black Skimmer

A distinctive coastal bird of Eastern and Southern North America. Adult is tern-like, with long wings, short legs, and short neck. Back and wings are black, underparts white. Head is white with black cap and, in alternate plumage, black nape. Unique bill is long and relatively thick vertically, while more...

Length: 46 cm Wingspan: 112 cm

Black Tern

A small, dark tern. Flight is buoyant with deep slashing wingstrokes. Alternate Adult has blackish body, gray wings reaching well beyond short tail, white vent, short black legs, and sharp, slender bill. Basic Adult is mostly white (may be mistaken for a small gull), retaining gray wings and back, wi more...

Length: 25 cm Wingspan: 61 cm

Black-headed Gull

Despite the name, the hood of this gull is actually chocolate brown. Black-headed Gull is similar to Bonaparte's Gull, with which it often associates, but is larger, with a heavier bill. In all plumages, the undersides of the primaries are dark. Alternate Adult: The mantle is pale gray. The primaries more...

Length: 38 cm Wingspan: 90 cm

Black-legged Kittiwake

This smallish gull is short-legged and short-billed. At rest, the tail is slightly notched. Alternate Adult: Medium gray mantle, with all-white head, tail, and underparts. The legs are short and black. Bill is all yellow. At close range, note the red eye ring and gape. Basic Adult: Blackish spot on a more...

Length: 38 cm Wingspan: 93 cm

Black-tailed Gull

This Asian species is one of the few gulls that shows black on the tail as an adult. Distinguished in all plumages by its long thin bill with no gonydeal expansion. Alternate Adult: The mantle is dark gray. The head and underparts are white. The tail has a broad black band, completely edged in white. more...

Length: 46 cm Wingspan: 119 cm

Bonaparte's Gull

This small gull is recognized in all plumages by the thin all-black bill, and in flight by the white wedge on the leading edge of the upper surface of the outer wing, and the black trailing edge of the primaries. The underside of the wing is very pale gray, fading to white on the primaries. The upper more...

Length: 30 cm Wingspan: 80 cm

Bridled Tern

A slender, dark-backed tern, breeds in the Florida Keys. Alternate Adult has black wings, dark gray back, forked tail extending past wings, gray stripe down center of spread tail, white underparts, black legs, black cap and eyeline, white forehead extending past eye, and thin black bill. Basic Adult more...

Length: 39 cm Wingspan: 76 cm

Brown Noddy

A dark, tern-like bird, breeds on Dry Tortugas in Florida. Adult is dark brown overall with white forehead, long and stout black bill, and short black legs. Juveniles and immatures are entirely dark brown with white forehead and pale wing coverts. Sexes are similar. Black Noddy is black overall with more...

Length: 39 cm Wingspan: 81 cm

California Gull

A medium-sized, long-winged four-year gull of Western North America. There are two subspecies, the more northerly and interior breeding "albertaensis," which is larger and tends to be paler above as an adult and the more southerly and coastal breeding "californicus," which averages smaller and darker more...

Length: 53 cm Wingspan: 137 cm

Caspian Tern

A large, bulky, broad-winged tern. At a distance, this species may be suggestive of a gull due to broad wings and heavy flight. Alternate Adult: Silvery-gray wings and back, dark wingtips, short, shallow-forked white tail, white underparts, black legs, black cap, and thick, dark red bill with a dusky more...

Length: 53 cm Wingspan: 127 cm

Common Tern

This species is one of several small white terns that do not attain a definitive alternate plumage until at least their third spring (nearly three years after hatch date). Alternate Adult has gray back and upper wing surface, pale gray underparts, forked tail shorter than folded wings, white face, bl more...

Length: 31 cm Wingspan: 76 cm

Elegant Tern

A mid-sized, streamlined, narrow-winged, white and gray tern with a black crown and crest and a long drooping orange bill. Underparts are entirely white in all plumages and age classes. Legs are black in adults and yellow in juveniles. Sexes are similar. Alternate Adult has light gray wings and back, more...

Length: 43 cm Wingspan: 86 cm

Non-vegetated Areas

0 species

Salt Water

47 species