The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world, a powerful, imposing bird with a slaty-black back and wings contrasting sharply with a white head and underparts, and a massive yellow bill marked with a red spot. Dominant and aggressive, it sits at the top of the gull hierarchy, dominating smaller gulls at food and readily preying on other birds — it will take ducklings, small birds, eggs, and even adult smaller gulls, as well as fish, carrion, and refuse. Its size and heavy build make it unmistakable among the state's gulls.
Primarily a bird of the Atlantic coast, the Great Black-backed Gull expanded into the Great Lakes over the past century and is now a regular presence, especially in fall and winter, along Michigan's shorelines, harbors, and landfills, with small numbers breeding. It often loafs among Herring and Ring-billed Gulls, towering over them. A true generalist and opportunist, it thrives around human activity, and picking the largest, blackest-backed gull out of a mixed flock is a satisfying exercise for the state's gull watchers.
An opportunistic generalist and top predator among gulls, taking fish, other birds and their eggs and young, carrion, marine invertebrates, and human refuse. It readily preys on smaller gulls, ducklings, and other birds, and dominates competitors at food sources through sheer size and aggression.
It is the largest gull in the world, noticeably bigger and heavier than the Herring Gull, with a wingspan of over five feet. Its size alone often identifies it in a mixed flock.
Look for a very large gull with a solidly black back and wings, a clean white head and underparts, pink legs, and a heavy yellow bill with a red spot. It typically towers over the Herring and Ring-billed Gulls around it.
It is present year-round on the Great Lakes but most numerous in fall and winter along shorelines, harbors, and at landfills. Once mainly an Atlantic-coast bird, it expanded into the Great Lakes over the last century.
Four years. First-year birds are checkered black-and-white with a crisp pale head and a black bill, and the black saddle fills in gradually over the following winters, so any large gull flock holds several distinguishable ages.
A colony at the nest site and a flock elsewhere. Great Black-backed Gulls are the dominant birds in any mixed gull flock and usually claim the best loafing spots on a pier or breakwall.
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