Distribution

Breeding Range

Figure 1 . Breeds locally along the Atlantic coastline from n.-central Maine (Hancock Co.; Adamus 1987) south to Georgia (including southern portions of the Delaware and Chesapeake bays), around the coast to Florida (most common breeder in Tampa Bay region; Robertson and Woolfenden 1992), and along the Gulf Coast west to s. Texas. Within this area, breeding colonies may be very locally distributed. In Mexico breeds along the Gulf Coast on islands off states of Campeche and Yucatán, and locally along the Pacific mainland coast from the n. Gulf of California south to Colima (Massey and Palacios 1994, Howell and Webb 1995). Breeds locally in the West Indies from the Bahama Is. south through the Lesser Antilles (Nisbet 1971). Also breeds on Aruba and Bonaire (Voous 1983) and on other islands off the coasts of Venezuela (La Orchilla, Los Roques, Las Aves, Coche I., Little Tobago, and possibly St. Giles and Tobago; Meyer de Schauensee and Phelps 1978, ffrench 1991) and French Guiana (Condamin 1978). Sporadic breeder on Machias Seal I. in the Gulf of Maine (only several breeding records since 1940; Erskine 1992).

Nonbreeding summer birds occur locally 30–60 km inland from coastal breeding sites throughout range, on the Great Lakes (more commonly toward the southeast), at the Salton Sea in s. California (Small 1994), along both coasts of s. Baja California (Massey and Palacios 1994), south throughout the remainder of the breeding range, and in appropriate habitats throughout Middle America (Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Howell and Webb 1995).

Winter Range

Generally winters from n. North Carolina south through remainder of the breeding range. Also winters along the west coast of s. Baja California; along the Pacific Coast from Colima, Mexico, south to n. Peru (casually north to n. California, west to Galapagos I. and other oceanic islands, and south to Chile; Hoogendoorn 1993, Small 1994, Howell and Webb 1995); along the Atlantic Coast from Tamaulipas and e. Nuevo León, Mexico, south through Panama and n. South America to Maranão, Brazil (1 record as far south as Rio Grande do Sul; Am. Ornithol. Union 1983, Ridgely and Gwynne 1989, Sick 1993, Howell and Webb 1995); and in the interior of Middle America from n. Durango and San Luis Potosí, Mexico, south to nw. Honduras and El Salvador (Howell and Webb 1995). Most common in Middle America on Pacific Coast. Rare in winter in Bermuda (Amos 1991). Laughing Gull is the predominant pelagic species in n. Gulf of Mexico in winter (Peake and Elwonger 1996).

Rare in winter north to s. New Jersey, casual farther north. Casual in winter at various interior locations in e. North America (e.g., Arizona, Colorado, N. Dakota, Great Lakes, West Virginia).

Casual in the Hawaiian Is.; accidental to Phoenix, Line, and Samoan islands (Pratt et al. 1987).

Casual in Greenland (Am. Ornithol. Union 1983). Widespread vagrant in Europe with records (as of 1991) from the British Isles (56), France (7), Iceland (5), Denmark (3), Spain (3), Sweden (3), Austria (1), Greece (1), Morocco (1), Poland (1), and Portugal (1). All plumages except Juvenal recorded in Europe, with most records from fall or winter, but British records cover all months with 1 or 2 individuals returning to same site in successive winters (Cramp 1983, Alström and Colston 1991). Recorded annually in British Isles (Grant 1986).

Record of 1 bird breeding in Senegal (with Grey-headed Gull [Larus cirrocephalus]; Erard et al. 1984). One Australian record (K. Kaufman pers. comm.).

For nesting, needs islands free from predators, tidal flooding, and human disturbance. Populations expand or contract depending on availability of nesting sites, human persecution, competition and predation from larger gulls, and availability of food resources (supplemented by garbage). Center of breeding range now in New Jersey and other mid-Atlantic states (Belant and Dolbeer 1993a).

Although Native Americans ate Laughing Gull eggs (Gross 1945), when Europeans arrived this species nested abundantly from Maine to Florida and along Gulf Coast, as well as in the Caribbean. Egging and market-gunning for the millinery trade decreased populations markedly; by 1900, none nested in New York, numbers were severely depleted in Massachusetts and New Jersey (Stone 1909, Bent 1921, Forbush 1925), and populations were reduced farther south. Numbers began increasing following the legal protection afforded by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in 1918.

A few pairs nested in California (Salton Sea) from 1928 to 1957, but species no longer nests there (Small 1994). May also have nested in Mexico (Bent 1921, Am. Ornithol. Union 1983), but only sporadically (Howell and Webb 1995). Was extirpated as a breeding bird from New York during the late 1800s by commercial eggers and hunters for millinery trade, but returned to breed on Long I. in 1978; 12–15 pairs bred in 1979 (Buckley et al. 1978, Post and Riepe 1980), nearly 3,000 in 1991 (Belant and Dolbeer 1993a).

Protection afforded by Migratory Bird Treaty Act, along with increased food availability at garbage dumps, led to gradual expansion and explosion in nesting populations of Herring Gull (Larus argentatus; Burger 1979b). As Herring Gull extended south into Maine (Gross 1945), Massachusetts (Nisbet 1971), and then New Jersey (Burger 1979b), the smaller terns (Sterna spp.) and Laughing Gulls moved from their traditional nesting islands. In some cases, Laughing Gulls were forced onto lower islands where they suffered heavy flood losses; in other cases, Herring Gulls ate the Laughing Gulls’ chicks and eggs. Control of Herring Gulls usually has not been successful, so there is still competition between these 2 species in the ne. U.S.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Laughing Gulls continued to increase in the ne. U.S., and in 1978 they began to nest on Long I., NY, for the first time in 100 yr. The colony at Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in New York City caused a serious bird-strike problem at nearby Kennedy International Airport, resulting in a massive control (shooting) program. During this period, colonies in New Jersey also grew in number and size, and from 1977 to 1989 the nesting population there nearly doubled (Jenkins et al. 1989). Overall, the North American population of Laughing Gulls remained relatively constant from 1977 to 1990 at around 250,000 pairs (Belant and Dolbeer 1993a); the population in New Jersey, however, decreased from 58,722 individuals in 1989 to 39,085 in 1995 (R. Jenkins unpubl. data), perhaps due to the control program at Kennedy International Airport.

For many other colonially nesting gulls, the data from Breeding Bird Surveys (BBSs) are inappropriate because of sampling problems (Burger and Gochfeld 1994); the data for Laughing Gulls, however, are useful because the birds nest in several hundred small colonies along the East Coast and elsewhere, and forage in coastal and inland areas near roads where they can be counted. BBS data show a steady increase in Laughing Gull numbers from 1966 to 1994 (Fig. 2).

No information.