I didn’t expect to spend the morning of January 3, 2026, at the Crittenden County Landfill. But I did, and it paid off. I’ve now seen and photographed my first California Gull in Arkansas.
California Gulls are medium-sized gulls that are common inland and found across the western United States, with a range stretching from Canada to Mexico. This is the ninth reported sighting in Arkansas. While previous sightings have been at Lake Dardanelle, this year’s California Gull has been hanging out near the landfill. California Gulls are opportunistic and will eat anything they can catch or scavenge, including insects and garbage.
While the California Gull was a neat sighting, the search for it was not so much. I’ll admit gull searches make me grumpy. The California Gull was hidden among thousands of Ring-billed Gulls. What is the difference between a California Gull and a Ring-billed Gull? The Ring-billed Gull is slightly smaller and has a paler eye. Adult California Gulls also have a red spot on the lower bill (the Ring-billed Gull has black). However, this California Gull was a juvenile, so it had a darker brown hue on its feathers and a black spot on the bill. Fellow birders kept reminding me to look for a more tubular bill on the California Gull. This wouldn’t be so bad if there weren’t thousands of gulls to look through.
Luckily, I was with four other experienced birders who made the search more bearable.
Memos for Me 