Bird
Ring-billed Gull
Larus delawarensis
A winter visitor to Virginia, found in all 133 counties and cities and 9 habitats.
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 9

At a glance
- Group
- Birds
- Here
- Winter and on migration
- Nesting
- Not known to nest here
- Range
- All 133 counties and cities
- Habitats
- 9
- Habitat models
- Winter
Where it lives
The places its habitat model includes. It is not found everywhere a habitat occurs.
Habitats in Virginia 9
Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.



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.
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.
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.
Marshes along tidal rivers where the water is fresh but rises and falls with the tide.
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.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Other habitats in its models (39)
Land cover, or classes with no habitat page in Virginia.
- Developed, Low Intensity Winter, only within 1,000 m of water.
- Developed, Medium Intensity Winter, only within 1,000 m of water.
- Developed, High Intensity Winter, only within 1,000 m of water.
- Open Water (Aquaculture) Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Beach Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore (Lake/River/Pond) Winter.
- Unconsolidated Shore Winter.
- Upper Texas Coast Beach Winter.
- Southeast Florida Beach Winter.
- South Florida Shell Hash Beach Winter.
- Florida Panhandle Beach Vegetation Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Sea Island Beach Winter.
- Southwest Florida Beach Winter.
- Texas Coastal Bend Beach Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Xeric River Dune Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Southern Dune and Maritime Grassland Winter.
- Southwest Florida Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Winter, only within 1,000 m of water.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- Central and Upper Texas Coast Dune and Coastal Grassland Winter.
- South Texas Dune and Coastal Grassland 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.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Clay-Based Carolina Bay Herbaceous Wetland Winter.
- South Florida Everglades Sawgrass Marsh Winter.
- Floridian Highlands Freshwater Marsh Winter.
- Florida Big Bend Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Central Fresh-Oligohaline Tidal Marsh Winter.
- South Florida Wet Marl Prairie Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Savanna and Wet Prairie Winter.
- Texas Saline Coastal Prairie Winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Wet Meadow, Prairie, and Marsh Winter.
- Central Florida Herbaceous Pondshore Winter.
- East Gulf Coastal Plain Southern Depression Pondshore Winter.
- Eastern Great Plains Floodplain Systems Winter.
- Cumberland Riverscour Winter.
- Texas-Louisiana Coastal Prairie Slough Winter.
Seasons in Virginia
- Migratory: does not nest here, in 79 of 133 counties and cities.
- Winter: does not nest here, in 76 of 133 counties and cities.
Also found in this habitat
Plants 125
Plants named in NatureServe descriptions of these habitats that grow in Virginia. Shared habitat, not food.
- Horsetail SpikerushEleocharis equisetoides
- Seven-angle PipewortEriocaulon aquaticum
- Northern Seaside SpurgeEuphorbia polygonifolia
- Red FescueFestuca rubra
- Fimbristylis carolinianaFimbristylis caroliniana
- Fimbristylis castaneaFimbristylis castanea
- Water-spider OrchidHabenaria repens
- Largeleaf PennywortHydrocotyle bonariensis
- Creeping St. John's-wortHypericum adpressum
- Spotted JewelweedImpatiens capensis
- Dune Marsh-elderIva imbricata
- Creeping RushJuncus repens
- American Water-willowJusticia americana
- Eastern GrasswortLilaeopsis chinensis
- Carolina Sea-lavenderLimonium carolinianum
- SweetgumLiquidambar styraciflua
- PondspiceLitsea aestivalis
- Long Beach SeedboxLudwigia brevipes
- Globefruit SeedboxLudwigia sphaerocarpa
- Shining FetterbushLyonia lucida
- Climbing HempweedMikania scandens
- Loose Water-milfoilMyriophyllum laxum
- American LotusNelumbo lutea
Wildlife 247
Other animals whose habitat models include the same habitats in Virginia. Not sighting records.
- American BitternBotaurus lentiginosus
- American Black DuckAnas rubripes
- American PipitAnthus rubescens
- Bank SwallowRiparia riparia
- Black-crowned Night-heronNycticorax nycticorax
- Boat-tailed GrackleQuiscalus major
- Canada GooseBranta canadensis
- Common NighthawkChordeiles minor
- Great Blue HeronArdea herodias
- Great Horned OwlBubo virginianus
- Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscus
- Northern PintailAnas acuta
- Stilt SandpiperCalidris himantopus
- Tree SwallowTachycineta bicolor
- Tundra SwanCygnus columbianus
- Yellow-crowned Night-heronNyctanassa violacea
- American AvocetRecurvirostra americana
- American WigeonAnas americana
- Bald EagleHaliaeetus leucocephalus
- Belted KingfisherMegaceryle alcyon
- Black-necked StiltHimantopus mexicanus
- Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphia
- CanvasbackAythya valisineria
- Chimney SwiftChaetura pelagica
NatureServe Explorer, CC BY 4.0. USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models.
Sources
- USGS Gap Analysis Project habitat models (2001)
- USGS GAP winter habitat model for Ring-billed Gull
- USGS Gap Analysis Project range maps (2001), modeled by watershed; migratory gives no dates
- NatureServe Explorer (CC BY 4.0), habitat names
- US Census TIGER/Line counties
- Names follow the USGS Gap Analysis Project (2001)









































