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Larus brachyrhynchus

Richardson, 1831

Short-billed Gull

G5Secure Found in 62 roadless areas NatureServe Explorer →
G5SecureGlobal Rank
Least concernIUCN
Identity
Unique IDELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.1215777
Element CodeABNNM03280
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
Synonyms
Larus canus brachyrhynchusRichardson, 1831
Other Common Names
Gaviota Cana (ES) Goéland cendré (FR)
Concept Reference
American Ornithological Society (AOS). Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, A. W. Kratter, I. J. Lovette, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2021. Sixty-second Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. Ornithology 138:1-18.
Taxonomic Comments
Formerly (e.g., AOU 1931 through AOU 1998) considered conspecific with L. canus Linnaeus, 1758 [Common Gull], and known as Mew Gull beginning with AOU (1957), although considered a separate species prior to this (e.g., through AOU 1910), when called Short-billed Gull. Treated as separate based largely on differences in display vocalizations (Adriaens and Gibbins 2016); the species also show genetic (Sternkopf 2011) and morphological differences (Adriaens and Gibbins 2016) and had been treated as conspecific based on weak evidence (following Oberholser 1919) (AOS 2021).
Conservation Status
Rank MethodExpertise without calculation
Review Date2016-04-09
Change Date1996-11-27
Range Extent>2,500,000 square km (greater than 1,000,000 square miles)
Range Extent Comments
The following range is from the brachyrhynchus group in AOU (1998):

Breeding: In North America, from western and central Alaska (Brooks Range and Kotzebue Sound), central Yukon, and northwestern and southern Mackenzie south to the Alaska Peninsula, south-coastal and southeastern Alaska, coastal and northern British Columbia (including the Queen Charlotte and Vancouver islands), and northern Alberta, also in northeastern Manitoba (Churchill).

Non-breeding: Occurs in summer north to the northern coast of Alaska and northern Keewatin, and south to California, central Alberta and central Saskatchewan.

Winters: in North America from southern Alaska (west to the central Aleutians) south along Pacific coast to northern Baja California. Casually, (or rarely) inland to southern British Columbia, eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, interior California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, and rarely to the Atlantic coast from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland, south to Massachusetts (sight reports farther south).

Migrates regularly through interior British Columbia and northern Yukon.

Casual or accidental: In the western Hawaiian Islands (Kure), and in continental North America from Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, southern Ontario, southern Quebec, New York, and southern New England south to southern New Mexico, Texas, Illinois, Ohio, and Delaware (sigh reports to Iowa, Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Florida).
Ecology & Habitat

Habitat

Rocky or sandy coasts or inland along large lakes, rivers, marshes, and other wetlands (breeding); mainly rocky seacoasts, estuaries, beaches, and bays, straggling inland near and away from water (nonbreeding) (AOS 2021).

Reproduction

Breeding begins is late May. Usually 2-3 eggs are incubated by both sexes for 22-25 days. Nestlings are semi-precocial, downy. Young are tended by both parents, fledge in about 35 days. May breed singly or in small colonies.
Terrestrial Habitats
Grassland/herbaceousSand/duneCropland/hedgerow
Palustrine Habitats
HERBACEOUS WETLANDRiparian
Other Nations (2)
United StatesN5B,N5N
ProvinceRankNative
WashingtonS5NYes
CaliforniaSNRNYes
OregonSNAYes
AlaskaS5BYes
MontanaS4MYes
CanadaN5B,N4N,N5M
ProvinceRankNative
SaskatchewanS4BYes
ManitobaS2BYes
Northwest TerritoriesS5Yes
Yukon TerritoryS4BYes
British ColumbiaS4BYes
AlbertaSUBYes
Island of NewfoundlandSNAYes
Roadless Areas (62)
Alaska (58)
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
East WrangellTongass National Forest7,630
FanshawTongass National Forest48,248
Fidalgo-GravinaChugach National Forest257,968
Game CreekTongass National Forest54,469
GravinaTongass National Forest37,381
HardingTongass National Forest174,349
HyderTongass National Forest121,723
Johnson PassChugach National Forest152,508
Juneau UrbanTongass National Forest101,581
Juneau-Skagway IcefieldTongass National Forest1,187,268
KartaTongass National Forest52,117
KekuTongass National Forest10,869
Kenai LakeChugach National Forest213,172
Kenai MountainsChugach National Forest306,600
LindenbergTongass National Forest25,855
MadanTongass National Forest68,553
Mansfield PeninsulaTongass National Forest54,991
MissionaryTongass National Forest16,675
Nellie JuanChugach National Forest713,697
North BaranofTongass National Forest314,089
North ClevelandTongass National Forest105,288
North EtolinTongass National Forest40,993
North KupreanofTongass National Forest114,660
North RevillaTongass National Forest215,430
North WrangellTongass National Forest8,091
Port AlexanderTongass National Forest120,681
RedoubtTongass National Forest68,347
ResurrectionChugach National Forest224,615
RevillaTongass National Forest29,298
RhineTongass National Forest23,010
Roaded DonutChugach National Forest968
Sheridan GlacierChugach National Forest224,683
Sitka SoundTongass National Forest13,459
Sitka UrbanTongass National Forest112,003
South KruzofTongass National Forest55,193
South RevillaTongass National Forest52,105
Southeast WrangellTongass National Forest18,377
SpiresTongass National Forest533,746
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
WoronkofskiTongass National Forest11,114
Yakutat ForelandsTongass National Forest323,648
California (1)
AreaForestAcres
MonoLos Padres National Forest28,141
Oregon (2)
AreaForestAcres
TahkenitchSiuslaw National Forest5,799
Umpqua SpitSiuslaw National Forest2,090
Utah (1)
AreaForestAcres
WellsvilleWasatch-Cache National Forest1,717
References (18)
  1. American Ornithological Society (AOS). Chesser, R. T., S. M. Billerman, K. J. Burns, C. Cicero, J. L. Dunn, B. E. Hernández-Baños, A. W. Kratter, I. J. Lovette, N. A. Mason, P. C. Rasmussen, J. V. Remsen, Jr., D. F. Stotz, and K. Winker. 2021. Sixty-second Supplement to the American Ornithological Society’s Check-list of North American Birds. Ornithology 138:1-18.
  2. American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
  3. 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/.
  4. BirdLife International. 2004b. Threatened birds of the world 2004. CD ROM. BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK.
  5. Campbell, R. W., N. K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, J. M. Cooper, G. W. Kaiser, and M. C. McNall. 1990b. The birds of British Columbia. Volume 2. Nonpasserines: diurnal birds of prey through woodpeckers. University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, B.C. 636 pp.
  6. Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp.
  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. Howell, S. N. G., and S. Webb. 1995. A guide to the birds of Mexico and northern Central America. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK.
  10. Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. Peterson, R.T. 1990b. A field guide to western birds. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.
  14. 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.
  15. Sibley, D. A. 2000a. The Sibley guide to birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  16. Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
  17. 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.
  18. Zink, R. M., S. Rohwer, A. V. Andreev, and D. L. Dittman. 1995. Trans-Beringia comparisons of mitochondrial DNA differentiation in birds. Condor 97:639-649.