Gulls & Terns in South Carolina
Our list for South Carolina has 12 gulls & terns recorded regularly there: 1 resident, 4 summer visitors, 5 winter visitors, 1 passage migrant and 1 scarce visitor
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in South Carolina in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 12, most common first
Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensisWinter visitorCommon43–54 cmRecorded all year
Forster's TernSterna forsteriResidentCommon33–36 cmRecorded all year
Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphiaWinter visitorUncommon28–38 cmRegularly Nov–Apr
American Herring GullLarus smithsonianusWinter visitorUncommon53–65 cmRecorded all year
Black TernChlidonias nigerSummer visitorUncommon22–26 cmRegularly May–Sep
Sandwich TernThalasseus sandvicensisSummer visitorUncommon36–41 cmRegularly Apr–Nov
Gull-billed TernGelochelidon niloticaSummer visitorUncommon33–42 cmRegularly Apr–Sep
Common TernSterna hirundoSummer visitorUncommon31–35 cmRegularly Mar–Oct
Great Black-backed GullLarus marinusWinter visitorUncommon64–79 cmRecorded all year
Lesser Black-backed GullLarus fuscusWinter visitorUncommon52–64 cmRegularly Jul–Apr
KittiwakeRissa tridactylaScarceRare37–41 cmRegularly Nov
Roseate TernSterna dougalliiPassage migrantRare33–41 cmRegularly Jul
Smallest to largest
Length, cm- Black Tern 22–26 cm
- Bonaparte's Gull 28–38 cm
- Common Tern 31–35 cm
- Forster's Tern 33–36 cm
- Roseate Tern 33–41 cm
- Gull-billed Tern 33–42 cm
- Sandwich Tern 36–41 cm
- Kittiwake 37–41 cm
- Ring-billed Gull 43–54 cm
- Lesser Black-backed Gull 52–64 cm
- American Herring Gull 53–65 cm
- Great Black-backed Gull 64–79 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