Short-billed Gull

The short-billed gull (Larus brachyrhynchus) is a medium-sized species of gull that breeds in northwestern North America. In North America it was previously known as the mew gull, when it was considered conspecific with the palearctic common gull (Larus canus). Most authorities, including the American Ornithological Society in 2021, have split the two populations as distinct species.

The short-billed gull breeds in colonies along coastal areas and inland wetlands, mainly in Alaska and Northwest Canada. Most birds winter along the Pacific coast down to the Sacramento Valley, and less frequently to Baja California, the Northern Rockies and Ontario. It is a very rare visitor to eastern North America and a vagrant to east Asia. There is one recent record of a short-billed gull in Europe, on the Azores in 2003.