≡ Menu

So unimpressed!

If you think this black-billed gull (Larus bulleri) isn’t looking too impressed, you try being the most threatened gull species in the world. The black-billed gull is very similar in looks to the much more common (but also declining) red-billed gulls (Larus novaehollandiae) often found around the coast. The black-billed gull is a more slender bird, with a longer bill. But matters can be confusing, as red-billed gull juveniles have a brown-black bill and legs that turn red as the birds mature. Black-billed gulls do the reverse, going from red bill/legs as juveniles to black as adults. The intense black of this bird’s bill is unique to black-billed gulls; the bills of juvenile red-billed gulls are never this dark and uniform in colour.