28 (+1) North American Gulls

For learning purposes the gulls that frequent (or infrequent) Texas have been placed in 4 groups based on their distribution in Texas.

The Texas Hex are the most common and can be expected in winter at many gulling locations (e.g. lakes, landfills, coasts). Memorizing “Jeff’s Texas Gulls Rule” will help to identify over 90% of gulls in Texas. These rules are supported by direct observation as well as Ebird data.

Feather Groups (Topology)

Knowing the names and locations of feather groups will be beneficial when learning gulls.

The 6 (+1) Wandering Texans were formerly on the Texas Birds Records Committee (TBRC) Review List but have been removed based on sufficient documentation in Texas. These species are fairly regularly seen in Texas, but are exciting finds none-the-less. The (+1) in the title of this group denotes that the Iceland’s presence in Texas consists of 2 sub-species: thayeri and kumlieni, which are fun to identify down to sub-species if possible.

The 13 Lucky Texans are species that have been documented by 1 or more sightings in Texas (so far there have been 1 well-documented records of the Gray Gull and the Yellow-footed Gull and up to 67 sightings of the Greater Black-backed Gull in Texas as of early 2026). These species are extremely rare in Texas and should be photographed and well-documented if seen.

The last group, the 3 Range Restricted Rarities, have not been documented, and would be extremely unlikely, in Texas. They are usually present in the far north of North America in small numbers.

My photographs and discussions for many of these gull species are found on the pages below. Except where noted otherwise, all photographs are my own.

For those interested in learning gulls I suggest you begin with my handout Texas Gulls Overview then follow up with additional photos and commentary on the pages below.

The Texas Hex

Lesser Black-Backed Gull

6 (+1) Wandering Texans