Black-tailed Gull - BirdForum Opus

Photo by ilovebird
R.O. Korea May 2006

Larus crassirostris

Identification

46cm.

• White head, neck, breast, and underparts
• Pale charcoal-grey wings and back
• Large yellow bill with black ring above red tip
• Pale yellow eyes with red orbital ring
• Short yellow legs and feet
• Long wings
• Short white-edged black tail

It takes 4 years to reach full adult plumage.

Distribution

Eastern Asia including China, Korea and Japan. Accidental to casual vagrant in the eastern United States; accidental to pacific states and to few interior states.

Taxonomy

This is a monotypic species^[1].

Photo by Marcel Gauthier
Photo taken: Charlotte, Vermont, USA

Habitat

Peleagic.

Behaviour

It follows ships and trawlers and will steal food from other seabirds.

Diet

The diet includes small fish, molluscs, crustaceans and offal.

Breeding

A colonial nester, breeding starts in mid-April. The clutch consists of 2-3 eggs which are laid early June. Incubation lasts approximately 24 days.

3rd year
Photo by Ayuwat J
Spa Beach, Beppu, Oita, Japan February 2009

References

1. Clements, J. F., T. S. Schulenberg, M. J. Iliff, D. Roberson, T. A. Fredericks, B. L. Sullivan, and C. L. Wood. 2018. The eBird/Clements checklist of birds of the world: v2018. Downloaded from http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/download/
2. What Bird
3. Wikipedia contributors. (2019, February 2). Black-tailed gull. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 09:07, February 4, 2019, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Black-tailed_gull&oldid=881449086
4. Burger, J., Gochfeld, M., Kirwan, G.M. & Garcia, E.F.J. (2017). Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris). In: del Hoyo, J., Elliott, A., Sargatal, J., Christie, D.A. & de Juana, E. (eds.). Handbook of the Birds of the World Alive. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona. (retrieved from http://www.hbw.com/node/53965 on 9 June 2017).
5. Howell, S.N.G. & Dunn, J.L. (2007) Gulls of the Americas. Houghton Mifflin, Boston.
6. Howell, S.N.G., Lewington, I. & Russell, W. (2014) Rare Birds of North America. Princeton Univ. Press
7. Lethaby, N. & Bangma, J. (1998). Identifying Black-tailed Gull in North America. Birding 30 (6): 470-483.

• List of references

Recommended Citation

• BirdForum Opus contributors. (2025) Black-tailed Gull. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 2 January 2025 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-tailed_Gull

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