Gulls & Terns

Short-billed Gull

Kurzschnabelmöwe

Larus brachyrhynchus

Gulls & Terns3 photosFirst seen: 8 August 2026

The Short-billed Gull is a small gull with a rounded head, dark eye and short unmarked bill. It breeds around northern lakes and wetlands and winters mainly along the Pacific coast. The species feeds on insects, fish, marine invertebrates and other small prey. It often mixes with Ring-billed and California Gulls but is smaller and more delicate. The North American population was separated from the Eurasian Common Gull in 2021.

ID tip: A small, gentle-faced gull with a short, unmarked yellow-green bill, a dark eye and a rounded head over a mid-grey mantle. The Ring-billed Gull is larger, with a pale eye and a clean black ring on the bill.

First seen: 8 August 2026 · Lyre Conservation Area · 3 photos in the collection.

Places in my records

Locations where this species is supported by a dated first record, an unambiguous single-place outing or a reviewed assignment.

Lyre Conservation Area8 August 2026

Family: Gulls & Terns (Laridae)
Length: 40–46 cm
Wingspan: 108 cm
Regional status: Winter visitor (Pacific Northwest, USA)
Conservation: Least Concern LCIUCN Red List · retrieved 27 August 2026assessment listed as Larus canus
Habitat: Coasts, estuaries and lakes; breeds in the boreal Northwest
Diet: Small fish, invertebrates, insects and scraps

Built from verified occurrence records, not drawn by hand. Core range = the countries holding 99% of all records; the rest are scattered or vagrant records. Record counts track where people watch birds as much as where the birds are, so the map shows presence, not abundance. Data: GBIF (CC BY 4.0). Basemap: Natural Earth.

Short-billed Gull

Places in my records

Selected photographs