Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Mediterranean Gull
Ichthyaetus melanocephalus
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The Mediterranean gull (Ichthyaetus melanocephalus) is a small gull. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus Ichthyaetus is from ikhthus, "fish", and aetos, "eagle", and the specific melanocephalus is from melas, "black", and -kephalos "-headed".
This gull breeds almost entirely in the Western Palearctic, mainly in the south east, especially around the Black Sea, and in central Turkey.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds inland southern Britain and eastern Spain eastward to southwestern Russia, Ukraine, and Azerbaijan; winters coasts southern Ireland to west-central Africa, Black Sea, and Mediterranean and associated seas.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Countries
- Albania
- Algeria
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Egypt
- France
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- Vatican City
- Western Sahara
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Mediterranean gull
- eBird: sightings, maps and photos
- xeno-canto: sound recordings
- Birds of the World: full species account (subscription)
- BirdLife DataZone: status and threats
- IUCN Red List (threat status)
- AviList global checklist (taxonomy)
Last updated September 29, 2026.
