Leucophaeus modestus
Silhouette: Kai Caspar · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~90% in a week >90%
The grey gull, also known as garuma gull (Leucophaeus modestus), is a medium-sized gull native to South America. Unusual among gulls, it breeds inland in the extremely dry Atacama Desert in northern Chile, although it is present as a non-breeding bird along much of the Pacific coast of South America.
The sexes are similar in grey gulls. Adults grow to a length of about 45 cm (18 in) and weigh some 360 to 400 g (13 to 14 oz). The head is white in summer but brownish-grey in winter. The body and wings are grey with the dorsal surface rather darker than the ventral region. The flight feathers are black and the inner primaries and the secondaries have white tips, visible in flight. The tail has a band of black with a white trailing edge. The legs and beak are black and the iris is brown. The call is similar to that of the laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla).
The grey gull breeds inland in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Its non-breeding range includes Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile, and it has been recorded in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is a vagrant to Panama and Florida; an earlier report...
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Paracas National Reserve | 🇵🇪 Peru | |
| 2 | Pan de Azúcar National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 3 | Celestún Biosphere Reserve | 🇲🇽 Mexico | |
| 4 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lima | 🇵🇪 Peru |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tierpark Berlin | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 2 | Bronx Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 3 | Brookfield Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 4 | Sedgwick County Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 5 | Hellabrunn Zoo | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 6 | Oregon Zoo | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Tierpark Schlichtweg 15 in München | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 8 | Zoo Schlichtweg 11 in München | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 9 | Zoo Siebenbrunner Straße 6 in München | 🇩🇪 Germany |
Likely
About 60% of wildlife watchers report a Grey Gull sighting in Paracas National Reserve on a given day, based on 556 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 10th most-seen of the 84 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 90%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February, April–May and July–September
In those months about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Grey Gull in Paracas National Reserve on a given day, against about 40% in December, the lowest month.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Grey Gull sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Yes
Of the 4 parks where we can rate Grey Gull sightings, Paracas National Reserve has the highest daily chance: about 60%. Next come Pan de Azúcar National Park (Chile, about 60%) and Celestún Biosphere Reserve (Mexico, about 20%).
Same genus: Leucophaeus
The closest relatives of the Grey Gull that you can see in Paracas National Reserve (genus Leucophaeus, Hooded Gulls) are Franklin's Gull (about 40%) and Laughing Gull (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Grey Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Paracas National Reserve (556 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
