10

Audouin's Gull (Ichthyaetus [Larus] audouinii) German name(s): "Korallenmöwe" Size: 44-52 cm; wing span: 1.17-1.38 m Body mass: 0.45-0.77 kg Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.25-0.39

Europe: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Great Skua Arctic Skua Pomarine Skua Caspian Gull Great Black-backed Gull Lesser Black-backed Gull American Herring Gull European Herring Gull Yellow-legged Gull Audouin's Gull Slender-billed Gull Iceland Gull Common Gull Ring-billed Gull Black-headed Gull Bonaparte's Gull Mediterranean Gull Little Gull Sabine's Gull Black-legged Kittiwake Caspian Tern Sandwich Tern Gull-billed Tern Common Tern Arctic Tern Little Tern Forster's Tern Whiskered Tern Black Tern White-winged Black Tern Atlantic Puffin Razorbill Common Guillemot Black Guillemot Thumbnails page Family group table Index of bird names European birds home page

Similar species

Description     Classification     Distribution     Sightings     Photos     Breeding     Nest     Eggs     Behaviour     Food     Call/s

Physical description Click here for a physical description Audouin's Gulls are medium-sized, white-headed gulls and the smallest of the "large white-headed gulls". They take four years to reach maturity, so there are five different phases of plumage. During the breeding season, adult Audouin's Gulls have a white head and front, sometimes tinged with very light-grey, and a light-grey back and wing coverts. The primaries have black tips with 'string of pearl' white points at the ends, rather than big white panels. The trailing edge of the upperwings has almost no white, leading to a near-absent tertial crescent on the folded wings. The irises are brown, while the bill is dark-red with black markings near the tips of both mandibles; the legs and feet are greenish-grey. Compared to other great white gulls, Audouin's Gulls look slender. There are 3 different immature plumages. The plumage of third-year birds already closely resembles that of adults, but with some residual grey streaking on the head, nape of the neck and some of the flight feathers. The bill is mostly dark-red, with a black tip across both mandibles. Second-year birds have a mottled grey head, a mostly light-grey front and mottled grey sides. The wings are mostly grey, with some mottling on the coverts; the tips of the outer primaries and the tail are black. The irises are quite dark and the legs and feet are dark-grey. The frontal half of the bill is black, the base is grey. Except for a grey front of the head and a grey belly, first-year Audouin's Gulls are mottled grey all over, with bold dark centres on the wing coverts. The irises are dark. The bill is grey with a black tip. Juveniles have an all-black bill, a light-grey head with clearly visible white eye-rings, a smooth, unstreaked mid-grey front and boldly scalloped brownish-grey wings.

Taxonomy, classification See Audouin's Gull at Wikipedia .

Range, habitat, finding this species Click here for information on habitat and range 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 Audouin's Gull is available HERE . Audouin's Gulls have a restricted range, in which they are partly migratory. Their breeding grounds are located on rocky islands or shores around the Mediterranean Sea. Around the Mediterranean there are locations where some Audouin's Gulls are resident, while others either disperse or migrate to western coastal Africa, as far southward as Senegal. In Europe Audouin's Gulls are found in Iberia, along the Mediterranean coastline and, especially, on all Mediterranean islands with suitable rocky habitats for breeding. Being specialised on feeding on fish, Audouin's Gull is also almost exclusively coastal/pelagic outside the breeding season. Beyond the Mediterrean, there are some records of Audouin's Gulls traveling northwards along the European Atlantic coastline. Audouin's Gulls are a strictly coastal or pelagic species. They breed on rocky islands and rocky shores.

Sightings Click here for sighting information G. Pinelas reports spotting Audouin's Gulls occasionally along the coastline of southern/central Portugal, around the Tejo estuary. J. Pires also reports finding Audouin's Gulls in various coastal locations in southern/central Portugal, down to Sagres, on the south-western tip of Iberia. In May 2023, H. Dahlem-Senger found Audouin's Gull at Port Vell, Costa dels Pins, Mallorca, Spain.

Photos

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Frontal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage; note the black markings near the tip of the dark-red bill
(photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-frontal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-lateral portrait of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-lateral view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-lateral view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Lateral view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Lagoa de Albufeira, near Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Lateral view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Lateral view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-dorsal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, August 2017]

Near-dorsal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

Near-dorsal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

Lateral/ventral view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage in flight, showing clearly the all-white to very light-grey underwing pattern, except for the dark triangular tips (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sao estuary, Setubal, Portugal, May 2025]

Near-dorsal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

Near-dorsal view of Audouin's Gull in breeding plumage in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

Dorsal view of two Audouin's Gulls in breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, March 2019]

NON-BREEDING

Lateral view of Audouin's Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, December 2018]

Lateral/ventral view of Audouin's Gull in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Quinta de Marim, Ria Formosa, Olhao, Faro, Algarve, Portugal, October 2024]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-frontal view of a second-winter Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Faro, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Near-lateral view of a second-winter Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Faro, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral view of a second-summer Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Setubal, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2017]

Lateral view of a second-summer Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Setubal, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2017]

Lateral view of a first-winter Audouin's Gull in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Off Sagres, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Lateral view of a first-winter Audouin's Gull in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, October 2019]

Lateral view of a first-winter Audouin's Gull in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, October 2019]

Dorsal view of a first-winter Audouin's Gull in flight, wings down (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, October 2019]

Near-lateral portrait of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Costa da Caparica, Setubal, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2017]

Near-lateral view of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Costa da Caparica, Setubal, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2017]

Lateral view of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, September 2020]

Lateral view of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Costa da Caparica, Setubal, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2017]

Lateral view of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, May 2017]

Near-dorsal portrait of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Costa da Caparica, Setubal, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2017]

Near-dorsal view of a juvenile Audouin's Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Sesimbra, Setubal, Portugal, May 2017]

Lateral view of a juvenile Audouin's Gull in flight, wings up (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Cabo Raso, Cascais, near Lisbon, Portugal, May 2019]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Sedentary/dispersive

Elementary unit: Solitary/mob

Audouin's Gull is resident around the northern and western Mediterranean. Much of the population is sedentary, but part of the population disperses locally outside the breeding season (still remaining in the Mediterranean).

Food, Diet

Audouin's Gull usually does not scavenge but is specialized in fresh fish.

These pages are largely based on our own observations and those of our contributors. The structure of these bird pages is explained HERE. For more salient facts on any bird species please refer to a field guide.

Would you like to contribute photos or sound recordings to this site? If interested, please CLICK HERE. Credits to contributors are given HERE.