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Common Gull (Larus canus) Alternate name(s): Race "heinei": "Russian Common Gull"; race "kamtschatschensis": "Kamchatka Gull"; race "brachyrhynchus": "Mew Gull", "Short-billed Gull" German name(s): "Sturmmöwe" Size: 40-46 cm; wing span 100-125 cm Body mass: Race "canus": 290-480 g race "heinei": 315-550 g race "kamtschatschensis": 395-585 g race "brachyrhynchus": 320-550 g Wing loading [g/cm2]: 0.25-0.35

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 Common Gulls are medium-sized white-headed gulls. They take up to 3 years to reach maturity, so there are 4 phases of plumage. Adults also have slightly different breeding and eclipse plumage. Adult Common Gulls in breeding plumage have a white head, neck, back, tail and chest, with a tinge of light-grey on belly, vent and undertail coverts. The wings are homogeneously mid-grey, with a broad white band showing when the wings are folded. The black triangular wing tip has a large white "mirror" and white primary tips. Also the trailing edges of the upperwings are white. In eclipse the sides of the head and the nape of the neck are lightly streaked grey. The irises are dark-brown. The bill is olive-yellow during the breeding season. In eclipse the bill develops an olive-grey base and a black band, while the tip remains olive-yellow. The legs and feet are greyish-yellow to yellow-green. Second-winter Common Gulls are similar to adults in eclipse, but have a greyer head and chest and a thicker black band on the bill. First-winter Common Gulls have a grey, streaked head with a black tip of the bill. The nape and sides of the neck, as well as the chest and flanks, are scalloped light-brown. While the back is grey, the outer wing coverts are still dark-grey with light-brown edge lining. The legs, feet and the base of the bill are pale. Juveniles have less grey streaking on the head than older Common Gulls, but they have a brownish-grey neck and chest, with more scalloping down the flanks. The wings are dark-grey and scalloped all over, with light-grey to light-brown edge lining on all feathers, except the primaries. The black wing tips show no white at all. The legs and feet are the colour of skin.

Taxonomy, classification See Common 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 the Common Gull is available HERE . Common Gulls are a partly migratory species that breeds in coastal and inland areas up to Arctic latitudes, but spends the winters in (near-)coastal areas in temperate to subtropical climate zones. There are four races of Common Gulls, which taken all together, are found all around the northern hemisphere. Nominate race "canus" populates Europe, Asia Minor, the eastern Mediterranean coastline down to the Nile delta and western Asia. Race "heinei" is found in central northern Asia, while race "kamtschatschensis" is present only in north-eastern Asia. Race "brachyrhynchus" occurs in Alaska and in western Canada. In Europe Common Gulls, nominate race "canus", are found as permanent residents only over a limited range that encompasses, apart from a few inland areas in northern France and western Germany, only the (near-)coastal fringes of Scotland, northern Ireland, the continental North Sea coast from about Calais via Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany to Denmark and continuing to the Baltic Sea coast to about 60 degrees latitude and the southern part of the Norwegian North Atlantic coast. They are also permanently present in the lake districts of northern Germany and northern Poland. In summer they extend their breeding range into all of Scandinavia and all of European Russia to the North of the Caspian Sea. The migratory population spends the northern winters anywhere on the British Isles, in northern France or anywhere along the European continental Atlantic or Mediterranean coastline. They are also winter visitors around the Black Sea. During the breeding season Common Gulls are found in a variety of wetland habitats, from coastal areas to inland rivers, lakes or marshes. During the winters they tend to stay more in (near-)coastal habitats. They readily adapt to the presence of humans and can be found in harbours, towns and parks, where they often scavenge food.

Sightings Click here for sighting information Race "canus" D. Wilczynska reports spotting Common Gulls, race "canus", in and around Bergen, Norway, in May 2016. G. Pinelas found a Common Gull, race "canus", in Dafundo, Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal, in December 2017. H. Dahlem-Senger reports finding Common Gulls, race "canus", at Naturschutzgebiet (Nature Reserve) Wallnau/Fehmarn, on the German Baltic Sea island of Fehmarn, Germany, in June 2018. Another was found at Ostbense, Ostfriesland, Germany, in June 2021. Next, a single Common Gull, race "canus", was spotted at Neuharlingersiel, Ostfriesland, Germany, in September 2024. M. Eaton reports finding Common Gulls, race "canus", in various locations in and around Tromso, Norway, in June 2018, where they were found breeding at the time. J. Pires found a Common Gull, race "canus", at Almada, Setubal, Portugal, in January 2023. C. Pears reports spotting Common Gulls, race "canus", in Tromso, Norway, in September 2024.

Photos

Race "canus"

ADULT

BREEDING

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage; note the thin red eye-ring that is not mentioned in all field guides
(photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Bergen, Norway, May 2016]

Near-lateral view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of H. Dahlem-Senger)
[Naturschutzgebiet Wallnau/Fehmarn, Fehmarn, Germany, June 2018]

Lateral view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Bergen, Norway, May 2016]

Lateral view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Near-dorsal view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Bergen, Norway, May 2016]

Near-dorsal view of a Common Gull in breeding plumage in flight, now seen issuing its call (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Bergen, Norway, May 2016]

Direct comparison between a Common Gull, back and a Common Tern in breeding plumage, front
(photo courtesy of H. Dahlem-Senger)
[Naturschutzgebiet Wallnau/Fehmarn, Fehmarn, Germany, June 2018]

Mixed flock of Common Gulls and European Herring Gulls, both in breeding plumage, feeding off the northern Norwegian coast (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, in June 2018]

NON-BREEDING

Sex unknown

Frontal view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage; note the characteristically coloured bill
(photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up near-frontal view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage looking sideways
(photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up near-lateral view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up lateral view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up lateral view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up near-dorsal view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up near-dorsal view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up near-dorsal view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage issuing its call (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

Close-up dorsal view of a Common Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of C. Pears)
[Tromso, Norway, September 2024]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Near-frontal view of a second calendar-year Common Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Dafundo, Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal, December 2017]

Near-lateral view of a second calendar-year Common Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Dafundo, Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal, December 2017]

Lateral view of a second calendar-year Common Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Dafundo, Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal, December 2017]

Lateral view of a second calendar-year Common Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Dafundo, Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal, December 2017]

Lateral view of a second calendar-year Common Gull (photo courtesy of G. Pinelas)
[Dafundo, Oeiras, Lisbon, Portugal, December 2017]

Near-dorsal view of a 1-year old Common Gull (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Skjervoy, near Tromso, Norway, June 2018]

Lateral view of a first-winter Common Gull behind a Black-headed Gull in non-breeding plumage (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Almada, Setubal, Portugal, January 2023]

Close-up lateral view of a precocial Common Gull chick (photo courtesy of M. Eaton)
[Near Tromso airport, Tromso, Norway, in June 2018]

Behaviour

Social behaviour: Communal

Mobility: Partially migratory/nomadic

Elementary unit: Solitary/mob

In Europe, Common Gulls can potentially be found anywhere. They are sedentary around the southern Baltic Sea, the North Sea coastline (including the northern parts of the British Isles) and the Atlantic coastline of southern Norway. Elsewhere they are migratory.

Food, Diet

Like all gulls, Common Gulls are opportunistic. They will feed on anything from carrion and discarded entrails to fish, chicks of other bird species and eggs.

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.

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