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BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary


Larus brachyrhynchus
Short-billed Gull

 
Scientific Name: Larus brachyrhynchus Richardson, 1831
Scientific Name Synonyms: Larus canus
English Name: Short-billed Gull
English Name Synonyms: Mew Gull
 
Classification / Taxonomy
Scientific Name - 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.
Classification Level: Species
Species Group: Vertebrate Animal
Species Code: B-SHBG
Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family
Animalia Craniata Aves Charadriiformes Laridae
   
Conservation Status / Legal Designation
Global Status: G5 (Apr 2016)
Provincial Status: S4B (Mar 2015)
BC List: Yellow
Provincial FRPA list:   
Provincial Wildlife Act:
COSEWIC Status:
SARA Schedule:
General Status Canada: 4 - Secure (2005)
Migratory Bird Convention Act: Y
   
Ecology & Life History
General Description:
Global Reproduction Comments: 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.
Migration Characteristics:
(Global / Provincial)		 
    Nonmigrant:
    Local Migrant:
    Distant Migrant:
    Within Borders Migrant: 		N /
N /
Y /
na /
Global Migration Comments: Found throughout the year in a portion of its range.
Habitats:
(Type / Subtype / Dependence)
Global Habitat Comments: 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).
Food Habits: Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Piscivore: Adult, Immature
Global Food Habits Comments: Along the coast feeds on fishes, crustaceans, and mollusks. Also scavenges in harbors. Inland follows farmers plowing fields and feeds on worms and insect larvae.
Global Phenology: Diurnal: Adult, Immature
Provincial Phenology:
(1st half of month/
2nd half of month)
Colonial Breeder: Y
Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): 41/ / 432
Elevation (m) (min / max): Global: 
Provincial: 
   
 
Distribution
Endemic: N
Global Range Comment: 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).
 
Authors / Contributors
Global Information Author: Hammerson, G.
Last Updated: Mar 24, 1994
Provincial Information Author:
Last Updated:
   
References and Related Literature
American Ornithologists' Union (AOU). 1983. Check-list of North American Birds, 6th edition. Allen Press, Inc., Lawrence, Kansas. 877 pp.
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.
Campbell, R.W., N.K. Dawe, I. McTaggart-Cowan, et al. 1990b. The Birds of British Columbia Vol. 2: Nonpasserines: Diurnal Birds of Prey through Woodpeckers. Royal British Columbia Museum, Victoria, BC.
Godfrey, W.E. 1966. The birds of Canada. National Museums of Canada. Ottawa. 428 pp.
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.
Harrison, C. 1978. A Field Guide to the Nests, Eggs and Nestlings of North American Birds. Collins, Cleveland, Ohio.
Johnson, S. R. and D. R. Herter. 1989. The Birds of the Beaufort Sea. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc., Anchorage, Alaska. 372 pp.
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.
Terres, J. K. 1980. The Audubon Society encyclopedia of North American birds. Alfred A. Knopf, New York.
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.
 

Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.

Suggested Citation:

B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 1994. Species Summary: Larus brachyrhynchus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 3, 2026).