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10

Slender-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus genei) German name(s): "Dünnschnabelmöwe" Size: 37-42 cm; wing span 90-102 cm

Europe: Family Group 10 Family Group 10 Table Great 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 Slender-billed Gulls are medium-sized white-headed gulls. They take two years to reach maturity, so there are three phases of plumage (the differences between breeding and eclipse plumage are small). Adult Slender-billed Gulls have a white head, with subtle grey markings around the eyes, neck and front. The front can have a pinkish tinge. The upperwings are light-grey, with black-tipped outer primaries, of which the outer 4 feathers are white. The outermost primary has a narrow black leading edge. The tail is white. The irises are grey. As their name suggests, they have an untypically slender bill. During the breeding season that bill is black. In eclipse the bill is blackish-tinged orange to dark-red. First-winter birds roughly resemble adults, but with a scalloped pattern on the wing coverts and with grey spots behing the ears. The bill is pinkish-red with a small black tip. The legs and feet are pale-orange. Juveniles resemble first-winter Slender-billed Gulls, but with a bolder scalloped pattern on the upperwings.

Taxonomy, classification See Slender-billed 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 Slender-billed Gull is available HERE . Slender-billed Gulls populate mostly the northern part of the western Indian Ocean, from the Indian coastline via Pakistan and Iran around the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. There is also a population in the Mediterranean. Their movements are regionally migratory. In Europe they appear to be expanding their range northwards from the Mediterranean into central Europe. In Europe Slender-billed Gulls are found along the northern Mediterranean coastline. They breed in a few selected (near-)coastal locations in southern Spain, the Cote d'Azure, Sardinia, near Venice and one location in Greece. There are larger breeding populations along the North coast of the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Some Slender-billed Gulls spend the winters along the southern Spanish coastline, in Sicily and along the western coastline of Greece. Recently they appear to be colonizing the European Atlantic coastline and the Baltic Sea. Slender-billed Gulls breed on the edges of wetlands, not only in coastal areas, but also around inland lakes and marshes. Outside the breeding season they are found primarily in coastal, i.e. salt water, habitats, such as beaches and estuaries, including mudflats.

Sightings Click here for sighting information H. Dahlem-Senger reports spotting a single Slender-billed Gull on the German Baltic Sea coast at Fehmarn in April 2016. D. Wilczynska spotted Slender-billed Gulls near Santa Giusta, western Sardinia, Italy, in June 2016. J. Pires found a Slender-billed Gull at RN Sapal Castro Marim e VRSA-salinas Cerro do Bufo, Castro Marim, Faro, Portugal, in October 2019. Others were found in various locations in the Algarve, Portugal, in September/October 2020.

Photos

More (and better) photos of Slender-billed Gulls in various plumages were taken by us in Oman.

ADULT

Sex unknown

BREEDING

Lateral view of a Slender-billed Gull in breeding plumage - note the typical grey-and-white body plumage of an adult white-headed gull, combined with the characteristic black bill; on the left a Greater Flamingo (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[RN Sapal Castro Marim e VRSA-salinas Cerro do Bufo, Castro Marim, Faro, Portugal, October 2019]

Lateral view of Slender-billed Gulls in flight (photo courtesy of D. Wilczynska)
[Near Santa Giusta, western Sardinia, Italy, June 2016]

NON-BREEDING

Lateral view of a Slender-billed Gull in non-breeding plumage; note the orange-red bill (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sapal Castro Marim, Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, September 2020]

Lateral view of a Slender-billed Gull in non-breeding plumage in flight (photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Sapal Castro Marim, Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, September 2020]

IMMATURE/JUVENILE

Lateral view of a first-winter Slender-billed Gull, front, with an adult in non-breeding plumage behind
(photo courtesy of J. Pires)
[Fishing Port, Vila Real Santo Antonio, Algarve, Portugal, October 2020]

Food, Diet

Like all gulls, Slender-billed Gulls are opportunistic. They will feed on anything from carrion and discarded entrails to fish, chicks of other bird species and eggs; they also scrape mud or sand in search of prey and will take insects in flight.

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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