How Long Do Seagulls Live [2022] Lifespans Revealed

Adult seagulls, including glaucous-winged gulls, great black-backed gulls, and herring gulls, will obtain white heads during the breeding season.

However, there are a few exceptions, including Bonaparte's gulls and Franklin's gulls, which obtain darker hoods during the breeding season.

Seagull Lifespan

On average, the lifespan of a seagull in the wild is between 10-20 years, though the species can significantly impact these numbers.

For example, herring gulls can live up to 30 years or more, while ring-billed gulls often live between 12 and 15 years.

However, several factors play into the lifespan of a seagull.

What Affects The Lifespan Of A Seagull?

A seagull's lifespan depends on a few different elements, including protection from predators, food availability, and climate. For these reasons, a seagull living in a zoo will often outlive a seagull living in the wild. With that said, if wild young gulls can survive the hardships of their first year, they have a much better chance at maintaining a prosperous life as each year passes.

In fact, most seagulls that survive the first year of life in the wild will die from natural causes.

Many seagulls are often the prey of other animals in the wild, including cats, sharks, weasels, and foxes, which is why seagulls living in the wild have it so much harder.

In the late 1890s, there was a record of an American Herring Gull named Gull Dick, who took trips to the same neighborhood for more than two decades. From October 12 to April 7 each year, he would visit the Brenton's Reef lightship in Narragansett Bay to feed on fish and bird-boiled pork. This famous Herring Gull offered us insight as to how intelligent these feathered creatures really are.

We now know that these birds have incredible memories. For example, they can remember a person's face and a set of garbage cans that they stored food at many days ago. Seagulls are also great with association, as they will often remember other seagulls as friends or enemies depending on their calls.

Seagull Habitat

Seagulls, often referred to as gulls, live in low-lying coastal regions, coastal towns, and coastal cliffs. That's not to say that you can't find the gull species inland as well, hanging out in parking lots or next to dumpsters where they can find food.

Compared to other birds, gulls enjoy more variety in their habitat. As long as food is plentiful, they are more than happy living along the shore as well as deeper inland.

Gulls are scavengers for the most part, eating any kind of rubbish that is edible. However, they also enjoy prawns, shrimps, fish, marine invertebrates, and other small birds. If they can, they'd much rather scavenge for a dead fish in the harbor rather than catch one out at sea. It's also true that they love human food.

FUN FACT: Each day, a seagull can easily eat up to 20% of its body weight. Of course, seagulls are quite light at about 1.5 pounds each, meaning they only consume up to about three ounces of food daily.

Seagull Breeding

Once a year, a female seagull will lay one clutch of eggs. Gulls nest in large colonies, and every female will lay anywhere between two to three eggs. How long the eggs take to incubate depends on the species of gull.

Many gulls will make nests from twigs, sticks, and stones, building them close to the ground for safety. Babies will stay close to the nest for the first five or so weeks after they hatch. Then, once they learn how to hunt or scavenge from their parents, they will venture out independently.