Appearance:

Small, but bulky gull. Black hood with white crescents above and below eye, blood-red bill and legs in breeding plumage. The rest of the body seems all white at a distance. Wingtips pure white in adult birds. Chest deeper than in Black-headed gull, and wings fairly broad and rounded. In winter the black hood is largely lost, but dark streaking around, and at the back of the eye remains. Juveniles can be confused with juvenile Mew Gull (Common Gull), but note white under wing-coverts, pale grey band (greater coverts) across secondaries, black or reddish bill and more narrow terminal band of tail. Paler belly than Mew/Common Gull. Second year birds are similar to adult winter, but varying degrees of black markings remains on wing-tips.

Sound:

Distinct calls which can be identified even in mixed flocks. Most common call a short, mewing "yeah". Pitch rises and fall rapidly, with a "surprised" intonation. Timbre is nasal but clear and pure. Alarm call a series of short "ke-ke-ke", with similar timbre.

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

Creative Commons,www.xeno-canto.org,Patrik Åberg,http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Appearance:

Very small gull with rounded wings and almost tern-like appearance. Underwing black, with broad white trailing edge. Lacks Black-headed Gull's conspicuous white outer primaries. Adult summer plumage with black (not chocolate) hood, that reaches far down on hind-neck. Winter plumage without hood, but with dark cheek-patch and dark cap. Juveniles differs from juvenile Kittiwake in slender body, dark cap, dark patch at trailing base of underwing, faint dark wing-bar and shorter wings. Can, with experience, be identified by fluttering, butterfly-like flight at long distance.

Sound:

Repertoire of short, tern-like, hard calls, uttered individually, or in series. E.g. "kep" or "krrk". Also a diagnostic, gull-like, sharp and bouncing "ka-tee,ka-tee,ka-tee", with second syllable rising in pitch.

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 Patrick Åberg,http://www.xeno-canto.org ,CC license