Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda (B), Brazil, Canada, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, French Guiana, Grenada (B), Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica (B) (NB), Martinique, Mexico, Montserrat, Netherlands Antilles, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands (B) (P), USA (B), Venezuela, Virgin Islands (British) (B) (NB), Virgin Islands (U.S.) (B) (NB).
Vagrant to Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, Chile, Denmark, France, Gambia, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Morocco, Namibia, Netherlands, Northern Mariana Islands, Pitcairn Islands, Portugal, Samoa, Senegal, Spain, St Pierre and Miquelon (P), Sweden, United Kingdom, United States Minor Outlying Islands.
Breeds on coastal eastern North America, migrating to north-eastern Brazil, South America and the Pacific. A rare vagrant to the coasts of Tasmania, southern Western Australia, south-east Victoria and north-eastern Queenland.
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) [XC625683]
by Russ Wigh from Skidaway Island, Chatham County, GA USA, United States (?)
Laughing Gull (Leucophaeus atricilla) [XC556392]
by Isain Contreras Rodr\u00edguez from South Amboy, Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States (canto)
Breeding Season (Guide)
Does not breed in Australia. Breeds on coastal eastern North America.
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Subspecies
The following 2 subspecies are recognised:
megalopterus (Bruch, 1855) - South-eastern California to western Mexico (Jalisco), and Nova Scotia to Florida and Texas, locally through eastern Central America. Winters south to southern Peru.
atricilla Linnaeus, 1758 - West Indies to Trinidad and islands off Venezuela. Winters south to northern Brazil.
Similar Species
Franklin's Gull (Larus pipixcan), which is slightly smaller, has shorter wings and legs, smaller bill, and the black hood extends to the fore-neck.
Compare Images
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
BirdLife International Species Factsheet