Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Little Gull
Hydrocoloeus minutus
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is a species of gull belonging to the family Laridae which is mainly found in the Palearctic with some small colonies in North America. It breeds on freshwater lakes and marshes, and spends winters at sea. It is the smallest species of gull in the world, and the only species in the monospecific genus Hydrocoloeus.
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds Baltic region eastward to Sea of Okhotsk and southward to northern Kazakhstan and northeastern China, also rarely Great Lakes, Hudson and James bays (east-central Canada); winters North Atlantic coasts and North, Mediterranean, Baltic, Black, and Caspian seas.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Continents
Countries
- Albania
- Algeria
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Bulgaria
- Canada
- China
- Croatia
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Egypt
- Estonia
- Finland
- Georgia
- Germany
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iran
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Kazakhstan
- Kosovo
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Netherlands
- Nigeria
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Poland
- Romania
- Russia
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Tajikistan
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Ukraine
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Western Sahara
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Little 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.
