LAUGHING GULLS MOLTING FROM NONBREEDING TO BREEDING PLUMAGE, BOWMAN'S BEACH, SANIBEL, FL

   In this series of photos you can see Laughing Gulls in various stages of molting from nonbreeding plumage to breeding plumage.  The first two photos are of the same gull.  You can see the head and face are mostly white with some gray smudges.  In the third photo the head and face are mostly black and gray with some white still showing. In the third photo the head is mostly black, but with still some white, mostly near the bill and neck.  Eventually the heads and faces of these gulls will turn the completely black of the breeding plumage.

   Also eventually the bill will turn from the black of the nonbreeding gull to the red of the breeding gull.  If you look closely at the bills you can see there is already some red in them.