 Breeding evidence |
 Relative abundance |
 Probability of observation |
Click for a larger version or to add map overlays |
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Click on plot to view table of mean abundance
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Number of squares
Long-term BBS trends
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-1.98 (-3.69 - -0.24)|
Mean abundance (number of birds detected per 5 min. point count) and percentage of squares occupied by region Bird Conservation Regions [abund. plot]
[%squares plot]
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Atlas Results
Atlas results coming soon
Excerpts Adapted from the Birds of Saskatchewan:
The American Herring Gull is the common "white-headed gull? over much of the Northern Hemisphere. The taxonomy of the American Herring Gulls and related species is complex. The American American Herring Gull (L. a. smithsonianus) may constitute a species separate from 9 other subspecies in Eurasia, which in turn may represent multiple species. In North America it breeds from Alaska and Baffin Island south to North Carolina, and winters (where open water permits) from the Aleutians, Great Lakes, and New England south to southern Central America.
These gulls nest primarily on small, rocky islands with sparse vegetation, either singly or with other colonial waterbirds. On migration they frequent lakes and rivers, especially those with nearby garbage dumps.
American Herring Gulls in Saskatchewan do not have the numerical prominence that they do on the Great Lakes or on the east coast of North America (Pierotti and Good 1994, Morris et al. 2003). Nevertheless, they are "fairly common but local summer residents of northern Saskatchewan south to Primrose, Delaronde and Suggi lakes? (Smith 1996), with an isolated breeding record from Redberry Lake. The American Herring Gull is a fairly common transient south of its breeding range. Summer sightings in southern Saskatchewan are not common-some may represent misidentified California Gulls.
Original text by Ralph D. Morris. Text adapted by Daniel J. Sawatzky
Read more about the American Herring Gull in the Birds of Saskatchewan here.
Recommended citation: Latremouille, L. M. 2025. American Herring Gull in Latremouille, L. M., S. L. Van Wilgenburg, C. B. Jardine, D. Lepage, A. R. Couturier, D. Evans, D. Iles, and K. L. Drake (eds.). 2025. The Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Saskatchewan, 2017-2021. Birds Canada. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan https://sk.birdatlas.ca/accounts/speciesaccount.jsp?sp=AHGU&lang=en [14 Nov 2025]
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