Gulls & Terns in Arizona
Our list for Arizona has 11 gulls & terns recorded regularly there: 1 resident, 2 winter visitors, 7 passage migrants and 1 scarce visitor
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in Arizona in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 11, most common first
Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensisWinter visitorUncommon43–54 cmRegularly Aug–May
Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphiaPassage migrantRare28–38 cmRegularly Oct–May
Forster's TernSterna forsteriPassage migrantRare33–36 cmRegularly Apr–Oct
Black TernChlidonias nigerPassage migrantRare22–26 cmRegularly May–Sep
Sabine's GullXema sabiniPassage migrantRare27–33 cmRegularly Sep–Oct
Franklin's GullLeucophaeus pipixcanPassage migrantRare32–36 cmRegularly Mar–Oct
Common TernSterna hirundoPassage migrantRare31–35 cmRegularly Aug–Oct
American Herring GullLarus smithsonianusWinter visitorRare53–65 cmRegularly Sep–Apr
Iceland GullLarus glaucoidesScarceRare52–60 cm
Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscusPassage migrantRare52–64 cmRegularly Oct–Dec
KittiwakeRissa tridactylaResidentRare37–41 cmRegularly Nov
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Black Tern 22–26 cm
- Sabine's Gull 27–33 cm
- Bonaparte's Gull 28–38 cm
- Common Tern 31–35 cm
- Franklin's Gull 32–36 cm
- Forster's Tern 33–36 cm
- Kittiwake 37–41 cm
- Ring-billed Gull 43–54 cm
- Iceland Gull 52–60 cm
- Lesser Black-backed Gull 52–64 cm
- American Herring Gull 53–65 cm
Body length, bill to tail. Rare birds in grey.
Data: EOD – eBird Observation Dataset (Cornell Lab of Ornithology), accessed via GBIF.org, CC BY 4.0. Records from 2019–2024, aggregated and filtered by Birdfact. How these lists are made