Appearance:

Small and agile gull with all black wing-tips, black legs (adults) and yellow bill. Area close to wing-tips much paler than rest of wings, and often visible at surprisingly long range (more so than the black tips). Adult winter with grey neck and black half-collar. Juveniles with black zig-zag pattern to wings, resembling pattern seen in Little Gull, Ross's Gull and Sabine's Gull. Differs from those in; no dark bar on secondaries, underparts of wing white, back grey, black on primaries reaches wing-tip. Flight action different from larger gulls; fast, stiff wing-beats and elegant maneuvering even in strong winds.

Sound:

Highly vocal at breeding ground. A mewing "kitti-wake", with the pitch rising on the second drawn out syllable, and then falling. Generally silent elsewhere, except when squabbling over food.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Stein Ø. Nilsen,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license

Appearance:

At a distance quite similar to Guillemot. Bill deep, rectangular and with white markings. Flanks unstreaked and armpits white. Tail longer than in Guillemot, with legs not protruding behind tail in flight. Tail often held clear of the surface when swimming. Cheeks white in winter, with broad, short and black eye stripe. Neck collar short and wide. Upperparts blacker, and underparts whiter than Guillemot. Heavy neck, head and bill, in combination with the long tail, gives it a front heavy, and different profile from Guillemot, whether perched, swimming or flying. Top of head in line with tip of uptilted bill when swimming.

Sound:

Very coarse and deep voice. Grunting or snore-like, with little phrasing. Mostly heard at breeding ground, but also sometimes at sea.

Contact call:

Distribution:

Wikipedia: map (se also Xeno-canto below)

Ecology:

Birdlife ecology

Links:

Observation.org Latest observations

Video IBC

Image search Flickr NB! May give other species

Sound search at Xeno-canto

Featherbase

CC

Sounds:Recorded by Simon Elliott,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license