The Armenian gull is a fairly large gull species, though it is on average the smallest of the "
herring gull" complex. It can range from , from across the wings, and weighs from . Among standard measurements, its
wing chord is , its
bill is and its
tarsus is . They are superficially similar to yellow-legged gulls but are slightly smaller with a slightly darker grey back and dark eyes. The area of black on the wingtips is more extensive with smaller white spots. The bill is short with a distinctive black band just before the tip. First-winter birds are mainly brown. They have a whitish rump, pale inner
primary feathers, and a narrow, sharply defined black band on the tail. Although their ranges do not overlap, with its darkish mantle, both black and red near the tip of its bill and a dark eye, the Armenian gull bears a remarkable resemblance to the
California gull (
L. californicus) of North America. ==Distribution and habitat==