{"id":16938,"date":"2023-07-30T08:29:06","date_gmt":"2023-07-29T20:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/?p=16938"},"modified":"2023-07-30T08:29:06","modified_gmt":"2023-07-29T20:29:06","slug":"is-it-a-red-billed-or-black-billed-gull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/16938","title":{"rendered":"Is it a Red-billed or Black-billed Gull?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"Red-billed<\/a>
Red-billed Gull \/Tar\u0101punga<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Recently I was down at the Rotorua lake photographing and I got chatting to a confused overseas visitor who told me that he had reported Red-billed Gulls on eBird and had been “corrected” that almost all the gulls on inland New Zealand lakes would be Black-billed. I was able to reassure him that almost all the gulls around us were Red-billed, in fact in the time we were talking I couldn’t find a single Black-billed to show him. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Black-billed<\/a>
Black-billed gull\/Tar\u0101puka<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Differentiating the 2 species can be challenging because bill colour is not a reliable identifier with both showing some black and red at times of the year and stages of development. In full adult breeding condition it is good but otherwise can be confusing. Equally leg colour and plumage subtleties can be difficult. What I find most useful is bill shape with Black-billed having a longer and finer bill than Red-billed. I find this stands out to me even when tracking a bird in flight.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Young<\/a>
Young Red-billed gull\/Tar\u0101punga showing relatively deep bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Compare the bill of the above bird with this next one. Both have bills with shades or red and black but the shapes are quite distinct.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Black-billed<\/a>
Black-billed Gull\/Tar\u0101puka showing longer finer bill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

A recent trip to the lake had both species involved in a bit of a feeding frenzy, plunging for small fish. This gave repeated opportunities to track birds in flight and diving. Most were Red-billed but the Black-billed leapt out at me as obviously different due to their bill shape. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Black-billed<\/a>
Black-billed Gull\/Tar\u0101puka <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Photos with Nikon Z9 and Nikkor Z 400mm f4.5 VR S with 1.4x teleconverter <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I was down at the Rotorua lake photographing and I got chatting to a confused overseas visitor who told me that he had reported Red-billed Gulls on eBird and had been “corrected” that almost all the gulls on inland New Zealand lakes would be Black-billed. I was able to reassure him that almost all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16940,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[982,3,29],"tags":[26,349,350,144,247,221,609,194,190,1142,228],"class_list":["post-16938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bird-photography","category-birds","category-new-zealand","tag-bird-photography","tag-black-billed-gull","tag-gull","tag-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand-bird","tag-nikon","tag-nikonnz","tag-photo","tag-photography","tag-red-billed-gull","tag-rotorua","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\nIs it a Red-billed or Black-billed Gull? - WildLight Photography<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Is it a Red-billed or Black-billed Gull? 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This time there\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Black-billedGull-DSC_5905-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Black-billedGull-DSC_5905-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Black-billedGull-DSC_5905-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Black-billedGull-DSC_5905-weblogo.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13268,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/13268","url_meta":{"origin":16938,"position":2},"title":"Mount Maunganui Birds","author":"tony","date":"December 6, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Common birds photographed on a walk around the base track of Mount Maunganui","rel":"","context":"In "birds"","block_context":{"text":"birds","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/birds"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of a group of 3 Red-billed Gulls","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Red-billedGulls-D85_3455-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Red-billedGulls-D85_3455-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Red-billedGulls-D85_3455-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Red-billedGulls-D85_3455-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":19182,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/19182","url_meta":{"origin":16938,"position":3},"title":"Ivory Gull","author":"tony","date":"July 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Ivory Gull - a polar bear kill provides our best opportunity to photographic this small, all white high Arctic gull","rel":"","context":"In "Arctic"","block_context":{"text":"Arctic","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/arctic"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of an Ivory gull washing after feeding","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IvoryGull-20240627-NZ9_0493-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IvoryGull-20240627-NZ9_0493-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IvoryGull-20240627-NZ9_0493-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/IvoryGull-20240627-NZ9_0493-web.jpg?fit=960%2C640&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16863,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/16863","url_meta":{"origin":16938,"position":4},"title":"Nikkor Z 400mm f4.5 with 2x teleconverter – is it a usable option for Bird Photography?","author":"tony","date":"April 16, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Weweia\/NZ Dabchick A lot has been written about the Nikkor Z 800mm f6.3 VR S as an ideal long reach, light, sharp lens for bird photography. 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Is it an option to just add\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bird Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Bird Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/bird-photography"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of Weweia\/NZ Dabchick","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NZDabchick-20230401-NZ9_4559-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NZDabchick-20230401-NZ9_4559-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NZDabchick-20230401-NZ9_4559-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/NZDabchick-20230401-NZ9_4559-NEF_DxO-web.jpg?fit=1024%2C683&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17765,"url":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/17765","url_meta":{"origin":16938,"position":5},"title":"Why I Use Manual Exposure For Bird Photography","author":"tony","date":"March 10, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Tar\u0101punga\/Red-billed Gull. Manual exposure keeps correct exposure protecting the highlights with a dark shade background I have written about this in the past but my exposure settings for birds are always fully manual except in some very specific circumstances. A recent sequence illustrated the reason for this quite nicely despite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bird Photography"","block_context":{"text":"Bird Photography","link":"https:\/\/www.tonywhitehead.com\/wildlight\/archives\/category\/bird-photography"},"img":{"alt_text":"Photo of Tar\u0101punga\/Red-billed Gull. 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