Lesser Black-backed Gull

A slender, long-winged gull slightly smaller than the Herring Gull, the Lesser Black-backed Gull features a dark gray back and yellow legs in adults, with winter plumage showing heavy streaking on the head and neck. It takes four to five years to reach adult plumage, making immature identification challenging. Look for a whitish head with a dark eye smudge, long wings, dark bill, whitish rump and tail base, and uniformly dark wings in flight on first- or second-year birds, particularly around bodies of water and beaches. Often seen amidst other large gulls, this species is common in Eurasia, migrating to Africa and Southeast Asia. The North American population has notably increased in recent decades, with regular sightings, even becoming fairly common along the Atlantic coast but remaining rarer inland and farther west.