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

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Northern Sandy Beach; Unconsolidated Shore (Beach/Dune); Atlantic and Gulf Coastal Plain Interdunal WetlandDune grassland. Shown: Core Banks, Cape Lookout, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Core Banks dunes, June 2013, Jarek Tuszyński, June 2013. CC BY-SA 3.0. Source record.

WinterOpen Water (Fresh); Atlantic Coastal Plain Large Natural LakeshoreRegional / representative. Shown: Southern coastal pond margins, Florida and Louisiana to North Carolina; state not identified, a neighboring state.Yellow butterwort beside a moss-hung coastal pond, Marian Ellis Rowan, 1901. Public domain. Source record.

WinterAtlantic Coastal Plain Embayed Region Tidal Salt and Brackish Marsh; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Salt MarshBrackish marsh at a woodland edge. Shown: Fort Fisher, North Carolina, a neighboring state.Fort Fisher brackish marsh and woodland edge, ncwetlands.org, undated. CC0 1.0. Source record.

WinterGulf and Atlantic Coastal Plain Swamp Systems; Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Tidal Wooded Swamp; Atlantic Coastal Plain Northern Tidal Wooded SwampNamed place / source context. Shown: Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, as titled by Museum of Fine Arts Boston; nineteenth-century artistic interpretation, a neighboring state.View, Dismal Swamp, North Carolina, Regis Francois Gignoux, 1850. Public domain. Source record.

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

Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground

Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.

WinterDeveloped, Open Space; Cultivated Cropland

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.

Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.
Louisiana Beach Winter.
Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Winter.
Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
Northern Atlantic Coastal Plain Dune and Swale Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Indian River Lagoon Tidal Marsh Winter.
Mississippi Sound Salt and Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Florida Big Bend Salt-Brackish Tidal Marsh Winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp - Okefenokee Nupea Modifier Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Seepage Swamp and Baygall Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Tidal Wooded Swamp Winter.
South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
South Florida Mangrove Swamp Winter.
West Gulf Coastal Plain Near-Coast Large River Swamp Winter.
South Florida Bayhead Swamp Winter.
Southern Coastal Plain Nonriverine Basin Swamp Winter.
Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
South-Central Interior Large Floodplain - Herbaceous Modifier Winter.
Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.