- Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Larus ridibundus
Identification
Summer White, with silver-grey mantle and wings. Black wing tips and noticeable white streak along fore-wing. Head is chocolate-brown, which does not reach nape or neck. White eye-ring.
Winter In winter the head is white with a few dark smudges.
- Identified by red bill and light grey back. A bit larger and with longer bill than Bonaparte's Gull.
Similar Species
Little Gull is smaller with much thinner shorter bill, much more extensive hood, and very short primary projection.
Bonaparte's Gull is smaller with perhaps slightly darker back, more extensive black hood, slightly shorter black bill, no extensive black on primaries in flight, and pink legs.
Franklin's Gull is slightly smaller with much darker back, thicker bill, and large white primary tips.
Laughing Gull is just slightly larger with much darker back, much larger bill, and small white primary tips.
Distribution
Widespread and abundant over much of the region and often the most familiar gull in inland areas. Breeds in Iceland, the Faroes and British Isles, southern parts of Sweden and Finland and sparingly in Norway and across Europe from northern France to Russia and south to the Black and Caspian Seas. Breeds in small numbers in scattered areas of southern France, Italy, and Spain, Sardinia, Sicily and central Turkey.
Resident in north-west of range but migratory in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia. Winter range extensive in southern Europe and around the Mediterranean and south on Atlantic coasts of North-West Africa, the Middle East and southern Iraq.
Vagrant north to Svalbard, Bear Island, and Jan Mayen and south to Cape Verde Islands. Also vagrant to United States and Canada, mostly in the northeast but also in the midwest and along the pacific coast.
Taxonomy
This is a monotypic species[1].
Subspecies sibiricus is generally considered invalid[2].
Some authorities consider this species to belong to genus Larus.
Habitat
Breeds in colonies beside fresh, brackish or salt water in swamps, reeds and other vegetation, often on islands, shingle-bars and sandspits. Outside breeding season both coastal and inland. Found on sandy and muddy shores and estuaries, and inland on farmland, playing-fields, reservoirs and gravel pits.
As a vagrant in the United States often found hanging out with Bonaparte's Gulls at loafing areas.
Behaviour
Diet
The diet includes worms, insects, fish and carrion.
Breeding
Normally the nest is formed from a scrape in the ground but may be on a pile of dead plant material. The glossy eggs are a light greenish-blue with dark blotches. Both adults incubate the eggs and feed the young.
Vocalisation
<flashmp3>Larus ridibundus (song).mp3</flashmp3>
Listen in an external program
References
- Clements, JF. 2009. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to December 2009. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019.
- Avibase
- British Garden Birds
- Collins Pocket Guide to British Birds 1966
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) Black-headed Gull. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 27 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/Black-headed_Gull
External Links
