| Laughing Gull |
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| Larus atricilla |
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The Laughing Gull is so strictly a coastal species that it only occurs casually even as short a distance inland as Baton Rouge. In its maritime habitat, it is an abundant permanent resident, somewhat more numerous in summer than in winter, but always present in considerable numbers. Its apparently reduced numbers in some areas in summer are probably attributable to its concentration near its main nesting grounds, many of which are located on coastal islands not readily accessible to ornithologists. It is the only gull that breeds in the state. |
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In late spring and early summer the adult Laughing Gull is separable from other gulls regularly present (see, however, the Franklin's and Bonaparte's Gulls) by its black head, red bill, dark slate-gray upper surfaces, and white underparts and tail. In winter the bill changes to black, and the head becomes white or grayish, yet the back and upper surface of the wings retain the distinctive slate-gray rather than pearl gray color. Immatures are brownish, with a white rump and broad terminal black bar on the tail. The name of the species comes from its laughing call note, ha, ha, ha, ha, haah, haah, haah, haah – an excellent aid in identification.
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The main nesting grounds for the species on the Gulf Coast are the islands of the Chandeleur chain and the mud lumps at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Four large greenish brown eggs with numerous dark blotches are laid in a poorly constructed nest located on or near the ground and made of trash, seaweed, and any other kind of litter that is available. Laughing Gulls work havoc in tern colonies, and even in colonies of their own species, by eating eggs in unguarded nests. The first Gull-billed Tern nest ever found in Louisiana had its eggs destroyed, probably by a Laughing Gull, in the time it took me to walk several miles back to my boat at the other end of the island to obtain a camera. In studying the interesting tern eggs I had frightened away the adults, and on my departure a Laughing Gull evidently swooped down and ate the eggs before either of the rightful owners returned. When terns are not frightened from their nesting colonies by human intruders, there are probably enough birds on hand to protect the eggs and young from the marauding Laughing Gulls. For this reason the National Audubon Society and other conservation agencies, which protect the nests from illegal molestation by egg hunters, generally forbid visits to the colonies even by bird students.
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| --George H. Lowery, Jr., 1974, Louisiana Birds |
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