• Summary
• Text account
• Data table and detailed info
• Distribution map
• Reference and further resources

Taxonomic note
Larus michahellis and L. armenicus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as L. michahellis following a review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group. Prior to that, L. armenicus had been split and L. cachinnans (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) had been lumped with L. michahellis as L. cachinnans following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).

Taxonomic source(s)
del Hoyo, J., Collar, N.J., Christie, D.A., Elliott, A. and Fishpool, L.D.C. 2014. HBW and BirdLife International Illustrated Checklist of the Birds of the World. Volume 1: Non-passerines. Lynx Edicions BirdLife International, Barcelona, Spain and Cambridge, UK.

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2021	Least Concern
2016	Near Threatened	A2ab+3b+4ab
2015	Near Threatened	A2ab+3b+4ab
2014	Least Concern
2012	Not Recognised
2010	Not Recognised
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Migratory status	full migrant	Forest dependency	does not normally occur in forest
Land-mass type		Average mass	867 g

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	798,000 km2	medium
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	1,950,000 km2	medium
Severely fragmented?	no	-

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	45000-73000 mature individuals	medium	estimated	2021
Population trend	increasing	-	estimated	-
Generation length	9.84 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population is estimated at 45,000-73,000 mature individuals, including estimates from Armenia, Georgia, Turkey from between 1970-2019 (BirdLife International in prep.) and 1,060 mature individuals from Iran (Sheldon, 2017). This roughly equates to 68,000-110,000 individuals in total. The European population size is estimated to be 44,400-71,800 mature individuals (BirdLife International in prep.). In Armenia, the last census (2019) shows presence of 14,800 breeding pairs in Lake Arpi and Lake Sevan (Aghababyan et al. in prep.) 

The size of the wintering population in Turkey is estimated at 31,000-42,000 individuals, with 4,000-7,000 of those in Armenia (2013-2019; BirdLife International in prep.); 7,000-8,000 in Iran and 6,000-12,000 in Israel (Wetlands International 2021).

Trend justification: It is estimated that the breeding population has increased by 5-8% in Armenia (which holds c. 44% of the European population) between 2009-2018 and by 13-27% between 1980-2018. The breeding population is thought to be stable in Turkey, which also holds c. 44% of the European population (BirdLife International in prep.). Based on IWC data, Nagy and Langendoen (2020) reported a moderate increase for the period of 2006-2018 (1.0538) and uncertain trend for 2009-2018 (1.0611). There therefore may be an overall increase (Wetlands International 2021). Despite some evidence for earlier declines and fluctuations in parts of this species' range (e.g., Ben Dov 2015, Burger et al. 2020), there is no evidence to suggest that the population is currently declining overall.

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Armenia	extant	native	yes	yes		yes
Bahrain	extant	vagrant
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Egypt	extant	native			yes
Georgia	extant	native		yes		yes
Greece	extant	vagrant
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes	yes	yes	yes
Iraq	extant	native			yes	yes
Israel	extant	native			yes
Jordan	extant	native			yes	yes
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes	yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes
Syria	extant	native			yes	yes
Türkiye	extant	native	yes	yes	yes	yes

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Armenia	Lake Arpi
Armenia	Lake Sevan and environs
Egypt	Lake Manzala
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Lake Uromiyeh
Türkiye	Aktaş Lake
Türkiye	Bendimahi Delta
Türkiye	Çıldır Lake
Türkiye	Devegeçidi Dam
Türkiye	Karakaya Reservoir
Türkiye	Keban Islands
Türkiye	South Keban Dam
Türkiye	Tuz Lake
Türkiye	Van Plains

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Aquaculture Ponds	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Irrigated Land (includes irrigation channels)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Ponds (below 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Seasonally Flooded Agricultural Land	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Water Storage Areas (over 8ha)	suitable	breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Estuaries	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Bogs, Marshes, Swamps, Fens, Peatlands	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	major	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	breeding
Altitude	0 - 1900 m	Occasional altitudinal limits

Threat (level 1)	Threat (level 2)	Impact and Stresses
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Intentional use (species is the target)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Reduced reproductive success, Species mortality
Biological resource use	Hunting & trapping terrestrial animals - Persecution/control	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Past, Unlikely to Return		Whole (>90%)		Rapid Declines		Past Impact
		Stresses Species mortality
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Abstraction of surface water (agricultural use)	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Natural system modifications	Dams & water management/use - Large dams	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Slow, Significant Declines		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Reduced reproductive success
Natural system modifications	Other ecosystem modifications	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Majority (50-90%)		Causing/Could cause fluctuations		Medium Impact: 6
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation, Ecosystem conversion
Pollution	Agricultural & forestry effluents - Nutrient loads	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation
Pollution	Domestic & urban waste water - Sewage	Timing		Scope		Severity		Impact
		Ongoing		Minority (<50%)		Unknown		Unknown
		Stresses Ecosystem degradation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national

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Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Armenian Gull Larus armenicus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/armenian-gull-larus-armenicus on 22/12/2024.
Recommended citation for factsheets for more than one species: BirdLife International (2024) IUCN Red List for birds. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/search on 22/12/2024.