Great Black-Backed Gull

The great black-backed gull is the largest member of the gull family and is found on the coasts and islands of the North Atlantic. 

Great black-backed gulls. 

With double-crested cormorants in Cape Breton. 

It is grayish/black on its wings and black with white "mirrors" on its wingtips. It has pinkish legs and a yellow or yellow/pink bill with red or orange on the tip of the lower bill. 

Juvenile birds less than a year old have scaly, checkered black/brown upper parts with the head and underparts streaked with gray/brown and a neat wing pattern. The tail is white with zig-zag bars with spots at the base and a broken blackish band at the tip. The bill is brownish/black with a white tip and the legs are a dark bluish/gray with some pink tones. 

A second winter bird to left and an adult to right. 

As they age the coloration gradually fades to more contrasting plumage and the bill darkens to black before growing paler. It takes four years to reach maturity. 

Two adults, an American herring gull between them (preening) and a juvenile American herring gull to the front left. 

Two adults (far left and far right) and the others are juvenile American herring gulls. 

We saw these birds in Passamaquoddy Bay outside of Saint Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, and on the bird islands of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada.