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Black-headed Gulls are small, slender gulls. The two sexes are identical, but they have different plumages during the breeding season and in eclipse. In breeding plumage, apart from thin partial white eye-rings, Black-headed Gulls have a near-black, dark-chocolate-coloured head. The relatively short neck, the entire front and the rump are white. Only the mantle and wings are light-grey, with white outer primaries and black tips on the primary flight feathers. The white tail has a black terminal band on the upperside. The bill is very dark red. In eclipse they loose their black cap, leaving just two black spots on either side of the head, above and behind the eyes. The bill becomes pink, with a black tip. In all seasons the wings protrude beyond the end of the tail. The irises are dark. The legs and feet are pink to greyish-pink. First-winter Black-headed Gulls resemble adults in eclipse plumage, but with dark centres to the wing feathers. Juveniles have brownish tints on the head and on the wing feathers.

The overall distribution of this species can be assessed, and specific locations where birds have been spotted can be found, based on individual sighting reports submitted by birdwatchers to ebird.org .

The global distribution of the Black-headed Gull is available HERE .

Black-headed Gulls are a partly migratory species. They are found from north-eastern Canada in the West via Greenland and Iceland, through Europe into western and central Asia. Especially in north-African coastal areas, the river Nile delta, the Middle Eastern and Arabian coastlines and further into southern Asia, in particular the Indian coastline and also parts of the Himalayas they spend the northern winters. They are also found in inland central and eastern Asia, as far East as north-east China, Korea and Japan, occasionally also in parts of South-east Asia.

In Australia, Black-headed Gulls are only found as vagrants from Eurasia. While in Australia, they usually stay around the northern seaboard, where they can occasionally be found along beaches and in harbours.

P. Brown reports spotting a Black-headed Gull at Buffalo Creek, Darwin, NT, in March 2023. All sighting and photographic information presented on this page has been kindly contributed by P. Brown.

Black-headed Gulls were also found by us in Europe.