Winter Gull Watching Affords Glimpses of Rare Beauties From Up North

Some folks consider gulls a nuisance, especially in summer when the noisy birds hang around  beaches. However, Amar Ayyash, author of the award-winning The Gull Guide: North America (Princeton University Press, 2024), has found much to admire about these fascinating birds, often called seagulls—though not all live by the sea.

 "Gulls are a very diverse group of birds,” Ayyash says. “Some live in the Arctic, scavenging polar bear kills. Others nest on rooftops in inner cities. They are master opportunists. No gull species is known to have gone extinct for as long as we’ve kept records. They are also great bioindicators, signaling to biologists and conservationists when an ecosystem is in trouble.”

Twenty-two species of gulls have been documented in Illinois, and winter is Ayyash’s favorite time to watch them. “In the Chicago region, wintertime brings hope of seeing northern gulls,” the Orland Park resident explains. “Gulls from Canada and Greenland descend on our lakes and rivers, having traveled thousands of miles south where they’re looking for open water and landfills.” 

Ayyash, a nationally recognized gull expert and administrator of the North American Gulls Facebook page, coordinates the annual Gull Frolic in mid-February at North Point Marina, in Winthrop Harbor. The event almost always sells out.

Interestingly, the most common gull in the Chicago region, the ring-billed gull, along with other gull species, egrets and terns, were hunted in the late 19th century for their white feathers, which were used to adorn ladies’ hats. These species suffered drastic declines, prompting the 1916 Migratory Bird Treaty Act between Canada and the United States, which protects these and other birds. Ring-billed and other gull species numbers began to rise after the treaty’s passage.

The adult ring-billed gull has a white head and underparts, a gray back, yellow eyes, yellow legs and a yellow bill with a black ring near the tip. In winter, adults often have dark speckling or shading on their heads. Immature ring-billed gulls vary more in appearance, making them harder to identify. Some migrate farther south in winter, while the American herring gull becomes more common in the Chicago area. Larger than ring-billed gulls, herring gulls have pinkish legs and a red spot on their yellow bills instead of a black ring.

“In winter, the real prizes are the Iceland gull, great black-backed gull and glaucous gull,” Ayyash says. “The Iceland gulls are the muses of winter gull watching. These Arctic denizens show a dazzling array of black and white on their wingtips, and the juveniles have pale, buffy plumages with stunning patterns.” Ayyash and other birders typically see these three species in winter near lakefronts, large rivers and landfills, along with the more common year-round gull species.

Iceland gulls breed along rocky coasts from Greenland to northeastern Canada. The glaucous gull, the second-largest gull, also breeds in the Arctic. While many adults remain there year-round, some migrate south in search of food. These pearly gray-to-white gulls are distinguishable in flight from the slightly smaller herring gulls because they lack any black in their wing tips. Mostly immature glaucous gulls are seen in the Chicago region and sport some speckling on their necks.

The largest gull in the world, the great black-backed gull, breeds along coastlines in Europe and North America. Adults have dark backs and wings, while immatures display a more checkered black-and-white pattern on their backs.

Birder Robert Hughes finds Chicago winters bearable because of gulls. “Especially in winter, there’s always a chance of finding a really extraordinary species,” says the Chicago resident.

Ayyash has encountered some ultra-rare gulls in the Chicago region. One bitterly cold winter day, he spotted an ivory gull—a very small, all-white bird that nests in Russia, Greenland and Canada—in a parking lot next to the Lake County Fairgrounds. The bird was drawn to a landfill across the street.

“Its population is estimated to be at the most 27,000 individuals in the world,” according to Birdlife International. “It’s one of the holy grails of birding,” Ayyash says. “This is perhaps the rarest gull I’ve found in North America.”

On Valentine’s Day several years ago, Ayyash and visiting Dutch birder Maarten van Kleinwee spotted a slaty-backed gull at the fairgrounds. “This rare, large Asian black-backed gull descended on the same parking lot where the ivory gull was,” Ayyash says. Van Kleinwee had traveled to the Chicago region specifically to study American herring gulls.

Though Ayyash admits gulls “can be a nuisance at times,” he says, “I couldn’t imagine a body of  water with no gulls. I very seldom meet someone who isn’t amused by gulls, especially when I stop to talk to people and point out what it is I’m looking at.”

According to Ayyash, the best places to watch gulls in winter include North Point Marina, Waukegan Harbor, Montrose Harbor, Navy Pier and parking lots, lakes and fields next to landfills.

He manages the annual Gull Frolic held at North Point Marina in mid-February. It’s the best time to learn about gull watching because experts are out on the shoreline with scopes showing the different species to visitors. “The event sells out months in advance,” Ayyash notes. “You can try to get on the waiting list for this year’s event.”

For more information, visit IllinoisBirds.org/event/23rd-annual-ios-gull-frolic-2025. Registration for the February 2026 Gull Frolic will open in November.

Sheryl DeVore has written six books on science, health and nature, as well as nature, health and environment stories for national and regional publications. Read more at SherylDeVore.WordPress.com.