Gulls & Terns in West Virginia
Our list for West Virginia has 7 gulls & terns recorded regularly there: 2 residents, 3 winter visitors and 2 passage migrants
Most likely in October
GBIF · OctShare of all bird records in West Virginia in October, 2019–2024. Each month links to that month’s page.
All 7, most common first
Ring-billed GullLarus delawarensisWinter visitorUncommon43–54 cmRegularly Nov–Apr
American Herring GullLarus smithsonianusWinter visitorUncommon53–65 cmRegularly Jul–May
Bonaparte's GullChroicocephalus philadelphiaWinter visitorUncommon28–38 cmRegularly Nov–Apr
Forster's TernSterna forsteriResidentRare33–36 cmRegularly Apr–Sep
Black TernChlidonias nigerPassage migrantRare22–26 cmRegularly Aug–Sep
Great Black-backed GullLarus marinusResidentRare64–79 cmRegularly Feb
Common TernSterna hirundoPassage migrantRare31–35 cmRegularly May
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
- Ring-billed Gull 43–54 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