Ring-billed Gull

This Ring-billed Gull photograph is left-over from 4 January 2020 at the Nisqually national wildlife refuge. These gulls are opportunistic feeders, eating insects, earthworms, fish, rodents and grain (Pollet et al. 2020). They breed across southern Canada and the northern United States and winter south through Mexico and the northern Caribbean. 

They are so abundant now that it is hard to believe that Ring-billed Gull populations were decimated between 1850 and 1920 by human persecution and habitat modification (Pollet et al. 2020). Not even their fondness for termites and crickets saved them. Due to protection from persecution, numbers have rebounded to well over 4 million birds by 1990 and they are still increasing—even though the species is considered a pest in some locations and are aggressively harvested.  They are found all year in western Washington and breed wherever appropriate habitat is available (Wahl et al. 2005).