Utah State Bird: California Gull
Fact-checked • Updated November 27, 2025
Utah State Bird – California Gull
Utah designated the California Gull as its official state bird on February 14, 1955. Governor J. Bracken Lee signed the legislation. Representative Richard C. Howe introduced the measure. The choice honored an 1848 event when gulls arrived in Salt Lake Valley. Mormon pioneers faced crop destruction from massive cricket swarms. Thousands of gulls flew in and fed on the crickets for days. This saved substantial portions of the harvest. Pioneers credited the birds with preventing starvation that year.
Why Utah Chose This Bird
A cricket plague struck in 1848. Mormon pioneers planted crops after surviving a harsh first winter in Salt Lake Valley. Hordes of crickets descended from the foothills and destroyed ripening crops. Settlers fought with clubs, fire, and water. The swarms continued.
Gulls arrived when desperation peaked. Thousands of birds flew in and fed on crickets for days. Cricket numbers dropped enough to save substantial portions of the harvest. Pioneers credited the birds with preventing starvation.
The gull held unofficial state bird status for decades before 1955. No law actually listed the designation. Representative Richard C. Howe sponsored legislation to correct this oversight. The legislature made it official on February 14, 1955.
Later research challenged the story. A 1959 U.S. Department of Agriculture review found records of nineteen bird species eating Mormon crickets. Blackbirds, magpies, turkeys, and robins all participated. The report noted gulls destroy many crickets but cannot control populations alone. The gull monument still stands in Salt Lake City's Temple Square.
Legislative History
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Common Consent Period
George Earlie Shankle wrote in 1934 that Utah considered the gull its state bird by common consent. The bird held this unofficial status for over a century. Everyone knew it symbolized pioneer survival, but statute books contained no formal designation. The Sea Gull Monument erected in Salt Lake City in 1913 reinforced public recognition.
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Formal Adoption Process
House Bill 51 came before the 1955 legislature. Representatives Richard C. Howe and Jaren L. Jones sponsored the measure. The bill passed without significant opposition. Governor J. Bracken Lee signed it February 14, 1955. Texas beat Utah to first state bird designation by 28 years, making Utah's choice in 1927 a historical footnote.
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Species Ambiguity
Utah Code lists the state bird simply as sea gull. No specific species appears in the statute. Official state websites consistently identify it as the California Gull despite this vague language. The legislature apparently thought any gull that looked like a gull qualified. Birders find this taxonomic imprecision amusing.
What This Bird Represents
Pioneer Survival
The gull symbolizes divine intervention in Mormon pioneer history. Settlers faced starvation during that first harvest season. Cricket destruction of crops would have meant death through winter. Gull arrival at the critical moment became known as the Miracle of the Gulls. The story passed down through generations shaped Utah identity.
Agricultural Protection
Farmers valued gulls as beneficial pest controllers. The birds ate grasshoppers, beetles, and rodents from agricultural fields. You could watch them follow plows, picking up insects turned over by machinery. Some farmers reported gulls waiting for irrigation to flood rodents from their holes. Free pest control mattered to agricultural communities.
Monument Recognition
Salt Lake City's Sea Gull Monument commemorates the 1848 event. Two bronze gulls perch atop a granite column in Temple Square. The inscription reads that gulls saved pioneers from starvation by feeding on crickets. Dedicated in 1913, the monument predated official state bird designation by 42 years.
Physical Characteristics
Size and Structure
Adults measure eighteen to twenty-two inches long. Wingspan ranges from forty-eight to fifty-four inches when extended. Weight varies from one pound to just over two pounds. Males run larger than females by six to ten percent in skeletal measurements. Bill appears parallel-sided without the expansion at the gonydeal angle seen in other gulls.
Adult Plumage
Breeding adults show white heads, necks, and underparts. The back and upper wings display slate-gray coloring darker than ring-billed gulls. Black wingtips feature white spots at the tips. Bills are yellow with a black ring near the tip plus a red spot on the lower mandible. Dark brown eyes contrast with bright red orbital rings. Greenish-yellow legs complete the appearance.
Immature Development
First-year juveniles appear mottled brown and white overall. Pink legs and bills with black tips mark young birds. Second-year gulls begin showing gray on the back while retaining brown mottling. Blue tint appears on legs and bill base. Third-year birds resemble adults closely but lack fully developed bill and wing patterns. Full adult plumage arrives in the fourth year.
Field Identification
Size falls between smaller ring-billed gulls and larger herring gulls. Dark eyes distinguish California Gulls from herring gulls. More extensive black on wingtips creates a nearly square-cut shape compared to similar species. Round head and slender bill help separate them from herring gulls in flight.
Behavior and Song
Vocalizations
The main call consists of repetitive kee-yah notes. First two notes stretch longer and more drawn out than later ones. Pitch runs higher than corresponding herring gull calls. Voice quality sounds hoarse and scratchy rather than clear. Breeding colonies create constant noise from gulls defending territories against neighbors.
Foraging Methods
These opportunistic feeders use multiple hunting strategies. Watch them walking and wading through shallow water picking up prey. They swim while grabbing food from the surface. Flight foraging involves swooping down to snatch items. Agricultural areas attract gulls following plows for exposed insects and rodents.
Social Structure
Highly gregarious birds gather in flocks numbering thousands. Colony nesting brings concentrations of 4,000 nests per football field at major sites. Mono Lake hosts 44,000 to 65,000 California Gulls arriving each April. Great Salt Lake supports even larger numbers. Dense nesting means neighbors position within two feet of each other.
Territorial Defense
Breeding gulls defend nest areas aggressively. They stretch necks straight up and open bills to chase intruders. Constant screaming fills colonies as birds protect territories. Despite social nature outside breeding season, territorial behavior prevents other gulls from approaching active nests closely.
Habitat and Range
Breeding Distribution
Nesting occurs around interior lakes and marshes from Northwest Territories south to eastern California and Colorado. Great Salt Lake historically held eighty percent of breeding California Gulls before the 1930s. Mono Lake in California hosts the second-largest colony. New breeding colonies established on reservoirs built across the West after 1930.
Seasonal Movements
Most populations migrate to the Pacific Coast for winter. Some birds remain at interior sites year-round where water stays open. Juveniles sometimes stay coastal through summer instead of returning to breeding grounds. Spring migration brings birds back to colonies three to seven weeks before egg laying begins.
Utah Presence
Great Salt Lake remains the primary breeding location. Colonies nest on islands safe from land predators. Brine flies hatching in incredible numbers provide rich food sources. Urban gulls also feed at garbage dumps around Salt Lake City and other population centers. Agricultural lands throughout Utah attract foraging birds.
Habitat Preferences
Sparsely vegetated islands and levees in saline lakes provide ideal breeding sites. Harsh conditions tolerated by California Gulls exclude ring-billed and herring gulls from some locations. Winter habitat includes seacoasts, estuaries, mudflats, beaches, and farmland. Garbage dumps supply food year-round near cities.
Interesting Facts
Fact 1 of 6
The scientific name Larus californicus means California gull, yet Utah claims it as the state bird while California does not. The species breeds primarily in interior states rather than coastal California where it winters.
California Gull Songs & Calls
Hear the clear whistles and sharp calls of the California Gull. These field recordings capture their distinctive voice in natural habitat.
Audio licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
Sources & References
This article has been researched using authoritative sources to ensure accuracy and reliability. All information has been fact-checked and verified against official government records and scientific databases.
Official documentation of Utah state bird history and legislative background • Accessed: November 30, 2025
Comprehensive California Gull species account with identification and behavior information • Accessed: November 30, 2025
Detailed habitat, range, and conservation status information • Accessed: November 30, 2025
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