Family: Laridae, Gulls and Terns view all from this family

Description 13-15" (33-38 cm). A slender gull with a black hood in breeding plumage, similar to Laughing Gull, but smaller, paler. In summer, adult has dark gray back and wings; trailing edge of wing is white, wing tip is black, separated from gray by white spots. Smudgy half-hood in winter. Young bird is dark brown with contrasting white rump and broad black tail band. See Laughing Gull.

Habitat Prairie marshes and sloughs. Often feeds in plowed fields.

Nesting 3 buff-brown eggs, spotted with brown, on a loose platform in a marsh. Nests in large, noisy colonies.

Range Breeds on prairie marshes from southern Canada to South Dakota and Iowa; also in scattered marshes in West. Migrates to southeast and winters mainly along west coast of South America.

Voice   A strident ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha, similar to Laughing Gull's but higher pitched.

Discussion A freshwater version of the Laughing Gull, Franklin's Gull will breed only in large colonies and so is sensitive to habitat destruction. When agriculture encroaches on a nesting marsh and it becomes too small for a large colony, the birds move elsewhere. They are much less numerous than in the past, but migrating flocks of these "Prairie Doves" are still a familiar sight in spring on the southern plains.