Black-headed gull

    Larus ridibundus

Castilian: Gaviota reidora

Catalan: Gavina vulgar

Gallego: Gaivota chorona

Euskera: Antxeta mokogorria

CLASIFICACIÓN:

Orden: Charadriiformes

Family: Laridae

Migratory status: Permanent resident

CONSERVATION STATUS:

In the 2004 edition of the Red Book of Spanish Birds (Libro Rojo de las Aves de España) it is listed as “Not Evaluated”.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

listen song

THREATS

In Spain it is affected by the drought cycles that change water levels in its nesting area. Changes in the urban waste management policies as it relates to landfills can significantly reduce its food supply and have a negative effect.

Length / size: 34-37 cm / 100-110 cm

Identification: Quite small gull with a blackish-red bill, grey back and white underparts. During mating season its head has a chocolate-brown hood and a partially white eye-ring; during the rest of the year, its head is white with only a few auricular spots.

Song: It makes a strident and repetitive "kreearr". It is very noisy when in colonies.

Diet: It feeds on insects, crustaceans, annelids and small fish. Sometimes it also consumes plant matter and food scraps from landfills.

Reproduction: It is a colonial species. The male chooses the nesting site and begins to build, although the female sometimes helps. The nest is made of plant matter and located on the ground, sometimes among vegetation. When they are born, the chicks are covered with a cryptic down and, after a few days, they are already moving about the surrounding areas.

HABITAT

It occupies wet areas, both freshwater and saltwater, such as estuaries, marshes, deltas, lagoons, lakes, rivers and reservoirs. It can also be seen in rubbish dumps, rice fields and salt evaporation ponds looking for food.

DISTRIBUTION

In Spain: In winter, its distribution is quite extensive; during breeding season, it is distributed throughout the wetland areas of the Mediterranean coast, the lakes of La Mancha, the Ebro Valley (where the most numerous colony settles) and in other places along the Atlantic and Cantabrian coasts.

In Castile and León: In winter it is common in wetlands in all the provinces, especially in León, Salamanca and Ávila.

Movements and migrations: It is a migratory species that moves south to spend the winter in the Iberian Peninsula, Turkey or northern Africa.

POPULATION

In Spain: There is an estimated population of 5000 breeding pairs.

In Castile and León: There is an estimated maximum population of 30 breeding pairs (1999 data).