Please help me identify this gull! (1 Viewer)

I'm very surprised I'm having a tough time identifying this gull that was commonly seen (most common gull there) on our trip to the Outer Banks, North Carolina the first week of June.

Mostly white and/or gray gull with black head and face. Seems easy enough. After some research, it seems there COULD be a case to be made for any of the following:

Black Headed Gull - mostly in Europe and Asia but eastern coast of Canada too, and they migrate south for the winter, so they could have been on the way back north?

Little Gull - also mostly in Europe, but they do appear in the Northeastern US coast. Perhaps North Carolina (Cape Hatteras) is too far south?

Laughing Gull - I think this is it. Seems to fit the bill (no pun intended) mostly.

I didn't pay close attention to bill color or exact shape or anything like that, so I'm just going with black head and on the NC coast.

Votes for Laughing Gull?

Thanks!

If you saw them in numbers they must be Laughing Gulls absolutely no doubt about it. BH Gulls don't migrate up your coast Little Gulls are TINY and not too common. Bonaparte's or Franklin's are another two that you will have around with black heads. Laughing is much more abundant on the coast I believe.

Simon Wates said:

If you saw them in numbers they must be Laughing Gulls absolutely no doubt about it. BH Gulls don't migrate up your coast Little Gulls are TINY and not too common. Bonaparte's or Franklin's are another two that you will have around with black heads. Laughing is much more abundant on the coast I believe.

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Thanks. I thought I was right, but looking at all those gulls (Bonaparte's too as you mentioned), they all start to look alike, so I wasn't sure. Thanks for the confirmation.

I've seen these gulls on the Maine coast in numbers as little as 2 at a time,they have black legs and feet,as well as the head=Camden