Backyard and Beyond

Good to see the Laughing Gulls back in town. I heard them overhead for a couple of days before seeing any. These were out at Gravesend Bay and Floyd Bennet Field.An immature Ring-billed Gull, a mature Greater Black-backed Gull, and a Brant let you know that Laughing Gulls are on the smaller size. (The GBBG is the largest gull in the world, bigger even then a Red-tailed Hawk).
Leucophaeus atricilla, means, strictly translated, white-dusky black-tail. The stunning black head is breeding finery.