Lesser Black-backed Gull

Overview
Lesser Black-backed Gull: Medium-sized gull with dark gray back and wings. Head, neck and underparts are white. Rump and tail are white. Bill is yellow with red spot near tip. The wings have dark tips with white spots; legs and feet are yellow. Eyes are yellow with red orbital rings.

Range and Habitat
Lesser Black-backed Gull: Eurasian species. Breeds in northern Europe; uncommon but increasingly regular visitor to eastern North America; rarer inland and in the west. Preferred habitats include coastal cliffs, moorlands, and dunes. Spends winters on coasts, estuaries, inland lakes, reservoirs, and rubbish tips.

INTERESTING FACTS
The Lesser Black-backed Gull is divided into several different subspecies that differ in the darkness of the back. At a breeding colony, immatures, nonbreeding adults, and failed and off-duty breeders form "clubs" near the colony, where they spend time loafing," resting, and preening. Nearly all individuals that reach North America are of the graellsii subspecies that breeds in Iceland, Britain, and western Europe. It is the palest of the forms. A group of gulls has many collective nouns, including a "flotilla", "gullery", "screech", "scavenging", and "squabble" of gulls.