Bird

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Larus fuscus

A winter visitor to Virginia, found in 42 of 133 counties and cities and 11 habitats.

Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: 42 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 11

Adult Lesser Black-backed Gull, whole bird — **Adult**. (c) Vsevolod Rudyi, some rights reserved (CC BY). CC BY. iNaturalist photo 729106211. iNaturalist large derivative; no local crop or retouch.

At a glance

Group: Birds
Here: Winter
Nesting: Not known to nest here
Range: 42 of 133 counties and cities
Habitats: 11
Habitat models: Winter

Where it lives

The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.

Habitats in Virginia 11

Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.

1 of 11

WinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated CroplandLyell Carr, Black Mountain: a pasture and hayfield with a log barn, rail fence and grazing cow below the Black Mountains. Shown: Black Mountain, North Carolina (Lyell E. Carr), a neighboring state.Black Mountainlabel QS:Len,"Black Mountain", Lyell Carr, c. 1890-1912. Public domain. Source record.

WinterGulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded SwampWilliam McIlvaine, The Chickahominy Swamp (1862): wind-tossed swamp trees standing in dark water under a storm. Chickahominy Swamp, VirginiaThe Chickahominy Swamp LCCN2004661405, William McIlvaine (1813-1867), 1862. Public domain. Source record.

Coastal dunes and beaches

Open sand of beaches, dunes and the hollows between them.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach; Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal Wetland

Coastal tidal marshes (salinity not stated)

Tidal marshes of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts where the source does not say whether the water is fresh, brackish or salt. A stated salinity files the marsh under freshwater tidal marshes or salt and brackish marshes instead.

Winter

Depression ponds and limesinks

Shallow ponds in Coastal Plain depressions, such as limesinks and the ponds in some Carolina bays, that rise and fall with the seasons.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Depression Pondshore

Disturbed and introduced wetlands

Wet ground taken over by weedy or introduced plants after disturbance, such as common reed, Chinese tallow or tamarisk stands; the upland counterpart is roadsides, fields and disturbed ground.

Winter

Floodplain and bottomland forests

Forests on low ground beside rivers and streams that flood from time to time.

WinterSouth-Central Interior Large Floodplain

Freshwater tidal marshes

Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Freshwater Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Fresh and Oligohaline Tidal Marsh

Ponds, lakes and their shores

Still water and its edges: ponds, lakes, millponds and reservoirs.

WinterOpen Water (Fresh); Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural Lakeshore

Salt and brackish marshes

Coastal marshes flooded by salty or brackish tides.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt Marsh

Sounds, bays and tidal flats

Salt and brackish open water of sounds, bays and estuaries, with the mud and sand flats and seagrass beds that tides cover and uncover; the vegetated marsh is salt and brackish marshes.

WinterOpen Water (Brackish/Salt)

Other habitats in its models (33)

Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia. Those recorded in Virginia first, the rest by region.

Elsewhere in the South (24)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
Louisiana Beach Winter.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
South Florida Bayhead Swamp Winter.
South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Winter.
Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.

Northeast (1)

Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Winter.

Land cover and other classes (8)

Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Winter.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.

All habitats

Seasons in Virginia

Winter: does not nest here, in 42 of 133 counties and cities.

County or city

Also found in its main habitats

Its main habitats in Virginia, by how much of its habitat model each one is, with the birds most characteristic of each and the plants that grow wild there. Shared habitat, not food.