Their natural habitats are mostly around water — beaches, mudflats, rivers and lakes — but they'll congregate at garbage dumps looking for food. They'll be spotted in cities and the 'burbs, in parking lots and farms. They're more likely to be found inland than most other gulls. Watch a ballgame in some cities and you might spot ring-billed gulls flying about.
Their diets are broad — fish, bugs, rodents, garbage and to a lesser extent fruits and grains. According to the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, some ring-billed gulls out west feed entirely from farmers' fields. They forage while flying, while walking, while swimming.
Ring-billed gulls breed in the northern tier of the U.S. and much of Canada. They nest on the ground in open areas near water. Both partners build the nest, using grass, twigs and other vegetation. Clutches are typically two to four eggs, which require three to four weeks of incubation before hatching. Both males and females share sitting duties. Both also feed the very young — hatchlings are capable of wandering in a day or two and capable of feeding themselves in five to 10 days. They fledge at five weeks. There are also rare "super clutches," with more than four eggs. They occur when two females bond and mate with a single male.
Ring-billed gulls are members of Laridae, the gull family.