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Black-headed Gull

Gulls SilhouetteGulls
Black-headed GullChroicocephalus ridibundus
  • ORDER: Charadriiformes
  • FAMILY: Laridae

Basic Description

Raucous Black-headed Gulls are common sights and sounds across much of Europe and Asia. The head is actually dark brown rather than black in summer, molting to dusky white in winter. This highly adaptable species breeds in freshwater wetlands and winters in sheltered coastal areas, but it is also at home in city parks, agricultural fields, and garbage dumps. The European breeding population exploded and expanded in the 20th century, colonizing Iceland, Greenland, and Newfoundland in limited numbers and becoming a rare but regular winter visitor to eastern North America.

More ID Info
Range map for Black-headed Gull
Year-roundBreedingMigrationNonbreeding
Range map provided by Birds of the World
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Other Names

  • Gaviota Reidora (Spanish)
  • Mouette rieuse (French)
  • Cool Facts
    • The species name for Black-headed Gull—ridibundus—is Latin for “laughing,” and this bird’s common name in several languages translates as “laughing gull” in reference to its calls.
    • Black-headed Gulls dramatically expanded their range in the 20th century. They began breeding in Iceland (1911), Greenland (1969), and Newfoundland, Canada (1977). Though they're still rare breeders in mainland North America, several thousand Black-headed Gulls now winter from Newfoundland to the northeastern United States.
    • Gulls are notorious for stealing food, and Black-headed Gulls often target Northern Lapwings, European Golden-Plovers, and other shorebirds. They seem to get better at robbery (the technical term is kleptoparasitism) as they get older.
    • Black-headed Gull colonies are a magnet for other nesting species, with Sandwich Terns, Common Terns, Arctic Terns, and Pied Avocets just some of the species that breed in or alongside gull colonies.