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Home/Species/ Glaucous-winged Gull

Larus glaucescens

Naumann, 1840

Glaucous-winged Gull

G5Secure Found in 66 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.101457
Element CodeABNNM03190
Record TypeSPECIES
ClassificationSpecies
Classification StatusStandard
Name CategoryVertebrate Animal
IUCNLeast concern
Endemicoccurs (regularly, as a native taxon) in multiple nations
KingdomAnimalia
PhylumCraniata
ClassAves
OrderCharadriiformes
FamilyLaridae
GenusLarus
Other Common Names
Gaviota Ala Glauca (ES) glaucous-winged gull (EN) Goéland à ailes grises (FR)
Concept Reference
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in The Auk]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
Taxonomic Comments
Closely related to other species within the Larus californicus complex; this complex poses one of the most complicated problems in ornithological systematics today. Hybridizes with L. occidentalis in southern British Columbia to western Oregon, withL. argentatus (on a limited basis) in south-coastal and southeastern Alaska, and with L. schistisagus in Kamchatka (AOU 1998).
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-09
Change Date1996-11-27
Range Extent Comments
BREEDS: coastally from Alaska and islands of St. Lawrence, Pribilofs, Aleutians south to northwestern Oregon and Commander Islands. WINTERS: southeastern Alaska south along Pacific coast to southern Baja California; in Asia, Bering Islands to Japan; fairly frequent in northwestern Hawaii; casually inland in Alberta, Idaho, western Arizona, Manitoba, and Oklahoma; regular in southern Nevada (Lake Mead); recently reported from Utah (Fischer 1988).
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Coastal waters; shores, cliffs, rock ledges, grassy slopes, beaches, harbors of coastal cities, dumps. Nests coastally, on cliffs, rocks, grassy slopes, mostly on offshore rocks and islands; preference for sandbar islands, flat tops of rugged islands, or beaches. On estuarine islands in Washington and Oregon, nesting concentrated in areas where driftwood scattered throughout grass-forb communities (Spendelow and Patton 1988); among colonies of other seabirds.

Ecology

Washington and British Columbia: first-year survival was lowest September-November; survival rate was 61, 80, and 85% for first year, 2nd year, and adults, respectively (Reid 1988).

Reproduction

Usually a clutch of 2-3 eggs is laid from late May into July; mean laying date is around 1st of June in western Gulf of Alaska. Incubation lasts 26-29 days. Reproductive success varies with food availability/quality (Murphy et al. 1984). Young depart nest at 40-45 days, can fly at 35-54 days, according to various reports. In Washington and British Columbia, age of first reproduction was 4-7 years in both sexes; most individuals had same mate in successive years (Reid 1988). Nests in large or small colonies; up to several thousand birds in Washington colonies (Spendelow and Patton 1988).
Terrestrial Habitats
Sand/duneCliff
Other Nations (2)
CanadaN4
ProvinceRankNative
Yukon TerritoryS1MYes
British ColumbiaS4Yes
United StatesN5B,N5N
ProvinceRankNative
HawaiiSNAYes
CaliforniaSNRNYes
AlaskaS5Yes
OregonS2B,S5NYes
AlabamaSNAYes
IdahoS1NYes
WashingtonS5B,S5NYes
Roadless Areas (66)
Alaska (60)
AreaForestAcres
AnanTongass National Forest36,666
Behm IslandsTongass National Forest4,777
Bering LakeChugach National Forest965,076
Boston BarChugach National Forest53,617
Brabazon AdditionTongass National Forest498,819
ChichagofTongass National Forest555,858
Chilkat-West Lynn CanalTongass National Forest199,772
Chugach-12Chugach National Forest8,116
Chugach-13Chugach National Forest13,337
College FiordChugach National Forest1,130,818
Copper River WetlandsChugach National Forest85,972
Douglas IslandTongass National Forest28,065
DukeTongass National Forest45,091
EudoraTongass National Forest195,022
FanshawTongass National Forest48,248
Fidalgo-GravinaChugach National Forest257,968
Freshwater BayTongass National Forest44,933
Game CreekTongass National Forest54,469
GravinaTongass National Forest37,381
HardingTongass National Forest174,349
Hoonah SoundTongass National Forest79,764
HyderTongass National Forest121,723
Juneau UrbanTongass National Forest101,581
Juneau-Skagway IcefieldTongass National Forest1,187,268
KartaTongass National Forest52,117
Kenai LakeChugach National Forest213,172
Kenai MountainsChugach National Forest306,600
KogishTongass National Forest65,216
MadanTongass National Forest68,553
Mansfield PeninsulaTongass National Forest54,991
Neka BayTongass National Forest7,142
Neka MountainTongass National Forest6,138
Nellie JuanChugach National Forest713,697
North BaranofTongass National Forest314,089
North KupreanofTongass National Forest114,660
North RevillaTongass National Forest215,430
Pavlof-East PointTongass National Forest5,399
Port AlexanderTongass National Forest120,681
Prince William Sound Is.Chugach National Forest118,698
RedoubtTongass National Forest68,347
ResurrectionChugach National Forest224,615
RevillaTongass National Forest29,298
RhineTongass National Forest23,010
Roaded DonutChugach National Forest968
Salmon BayTongass National Forest22,793
Sheridan GlacierChugach National Forest224,683
Sitka SoundTongass National Forest13,459
Sitka UrbanTongass National Forest112,003
Soda BayTongass National Forest78,091
South KruzofTongass National Forest55,193
South RevillaTongass National Forest52,105
SpiresTongass National Forest533,746
Suemez IslandTongass National Forest19,903
SullivanTongass National Forest67,323
Taku-SnettishamTongass National Forest664,928
Tenakee RidgeTongass National Forest20,527
Twenty MileChugach National Forest198,775
Upper SitukTongass National Forest16,789
Windham-Port HoughtonTongass National Forest161,952
Yakutat ForelandsTongass National Forest323,648
California (1)
AreaForestAcres
Mt. JacksonHumboldt-Toiyabe National Forest20,721
Oregon (4)
AreaForestAcres
Drift CreekSiuslaw National Forest6,333
EagleMt. Hood National Forest16,841
TenmileSiuslaw National Forest10,818
Umpqua SpitSiuslaw National Forest2,090
Washington (1)
AreaForestAcres
Mt. Baker Noisy - DiobsudMt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest56,039
References (25)
  1. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1998. Check-list of North American birds. Seventh edition. American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. [as modified by subsequent supplements and corrections published in <i>The Auk</i>]. Also available online: http://www.aou.org/.
  3. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  4. Fischer, D. L. 1988. First records of the glaucous-winged gull in Utah. Great Basin Nat. 48:298-300.
  5. Gaston, A. J., and J. M. Hipfner. 2000. Thick-billed Murre (<i>Uria lomvia</i>). No. 497 IN A. Poole and F. Gill, editors, The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 32pp.
  6. Gaston, A. J., et al. 1994. Population parameters of thick-billed murres at Coats Island, Northwest Territories, Canada. Condor 96:935-948.
  7. Golovkin, A. N. 1984. Seabirds nesting in the USSR: the status and protection of populations. Pages 473-486 in Croxall et al., eds. Status and conservation of the world's seabirds. ICBP Tech. Pub. No. 2.
  8. Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
  9. Hatch, S. A., and M. A. Hatch. 1990. Breeding seasons of oceanic birds in a subarctic colony. Can. J. Zool. 68:1664-1679.
  10. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  11. Hyslop, C., and J. Kennedy, editors. 1992. Bird trends: a report on results of national ornithological surveys in Canada. Number 2, Autumn 1992. Migratory Birds Conservation Division, Canadian Wildlife Service, Ottawa, Ontario. 20 pp.
  12. Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp.
  13. Lensink, C. J. 1984. The status and conservation of seabirds in Alaska. Pages 13-27 in Croxall et al., eds. Status and conservation of the world's seabirds. ICBP Tech. Publ. No. 2.
  14. Mostello, C. S., N. A. Palaia, and R. B. Clapp. 2000. Gray-backed Tern (Sterna lunata). No. 525 in A. Poole and F. Gill (editors). The birds of North America. The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA. 28 pp.
  15. Murphy, E. C., et al. 1984. Dietary changes and poor reproductive performance in glaucous-winged gulls. Auk 101:532-541.
  16. Parker III, T. A., D. F. Stotz, and J. W. Fitzpatrick. 1996. Ecological and distributional databases for neotropical birds. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  17. Pons, J. M., A. Hassanin, and P. A. Crochet. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships within the Laridae (Charadriiformes: Aves) inferred from mitochondrial markers. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 37:686-699.
  18. Poole, A. F. and F. B. Gill. 1992. The birds of North America. The American Ornithologists' Union, Washington, D.C. and The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA.
  19. Pratt, H. D., P. L. Bruner, and D. G. Berrett. 1987. A Field Guide to the Birds of Hawaii and the Tropical Pacific. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey. 409 pp. + 45 plates.
  20. Reid, W. V. 1988. Population dynamics of the glaucous-winged gull. J. Wildl. Manage. 52:763-770.
  21. Schreiber, E. A., R. W. Schreiber, and G. A. Schenk. 1996. Red-footed Booby (<i>Sula sula</i>). No. 241 in A. Poole and F. Gill, editors. The birds of North America. The Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, PA, and The Amerian Ornithologists' Union, Washington, DC. 24 pp.
  22. Spendelow, J. A. and S. R. Patton. 1988. National Atlas of Coastal Waterbird Colonies in the Contiguous United States: 1976-1982. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Biological Report 88(5). x + 326 pp.
  23. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  24. The American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). Banks, R.C., R.T. Chesser, C. Cicero, J.L. Dunn, A.W. Kratter, I.J. Lovette, P.C. Rasmussen, J.V. Remsen, Jr., J.D. Rising, D.F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2008. Forty-ninth supplement to the American Ornithologists' Union Check-list of North American Birds. The Auk 125(3):758-768.
  25. Vermeer, K., and S. G. Sealy. 1984. Status of the nesting seabirds of British Columbia. Pages 29-40 in Croxall et al., eds. Status and conservation of the world's seabirds. ICBP Tech. Pub. No. 2.