Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls
Black-headed Gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
- Family
- Skimmers, Noddies, Terns, and Gulls (Laridae)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
Overview
The black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic in Europe and Asia, and also locally in smaller numbers in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but many also remain in the milder areas of northwestern Europe. It was formerly sometimes cited as "common black-headed gull" to distinguish it from "great black-headed gull" (an old name for Pallas's gull).
The genus name Chroicocephalus is from the Ancient Greek words khroizo, "to colour", and kephale, "head".
Summary from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Range and habitat
Breeds southern Greenland, Iceland, and western Europe eastward across Russia to Yakutsk region (eastern Russia), southward through Caspian Seato northeastern China, also west-central Newfoundland (southeastern Canada); winters to Africa, southern Asia, and eastern North America.
Range description: AviList Global Avian Checklist.
Countries
- Afghanistan
- Albania
- Algeria
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Armenia
- Austria
- Azerbaijan
- Bahrain
- Bangladesh
- Belarus
- Belgium
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Brunei
- Bulgaria
- Burkina Faso
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Canada
- Cape Verde
- China
- Colombia
- Côte d'Ivoire
- Croatia
- Cuba
- Cyprus
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Djibouti
- Dominica
- Egypt
- Eritrea
- Estonia
- Ethiopia
- Faroe Islands
- Finland
- France
- Gambia
- Georgia
- Germany
- Ghana
- Greece
- Greenland
- Grenada
- Guam
- Hungary
- Iceland
- India
- Indonesia
- Iran
- Iraq
- Ireland
- Israel
- Italy
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- Kenya
- Kosovo
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Latvia
- Lebanon
- Libya
- Liechtenstein
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malaysia
- Mali
- Malta
- Mauritania
- Micronesia
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Mongolia
- Montenegro
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Nepal
- Netherlands
- Niger
- Nigeria
- North Korea
- North Macedonia
- Northern Mariana Islands
- Norway
- Oman
- Pakistan
- Palau
- Palestine
- Papua New Guinea
- Philippines
- Poland
- Portugal
- Qatar
- Romania
- Russia
- Saint Kitts and Nevis
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- San Marino
- Saudi Arabia
- Senegal
- Serbia
- Singapore
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Somalia
- South Korea
- South Sudan
- Spain
- Sri Lanka
- Sudan
- Sweden
- Switzerland
- Syria
- Taiwan
- Tajikistan
- Tanzania
- Thailand
- Tunisia
- Turkey
- Turkmenistan
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- United Arab Emirates
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uzbekistan
- Vatican City
- Vietnam
- Western Sahara
- Yemen
Sources and further reading
- Wikipedia: Black-headed 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.