Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus) - BirdLife species factsheet

Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus

Current view: Data table and detailed info

Taxonomy

Taxonomic source(s)
AERC TAC. 2003. AERC TAC Checklist of bird taxa occurring in Western Palearctic region, 15th Draft. Available at: http://www.aerc.eu/DOCS/Bird_taxa_of_the_WP15.xls.
Christidis, L. and Boles, W.E. 2008. Systematics and Taxonomy of Australian Birds. CSIRO Publishing, Collingwood, Australia.
Cramp, S. and Simmons, K.E.L. (eds). 1977-1994. Handbook of the birds of Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The birds of the western Palearctic. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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.

IUCN Red List criteria met and history

Red List criteria met

Critically Endangered	Endangered	Vulnerable
-	-	-

Red List history

Year	Category	Criteria
2018	Least Concern
2016	Least Concern
2012	Least Concern
2009	Least Concern
2008	Least Concern
2004	Least Concern
2000	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1994	Lower Risk/Least Concern
1988	Lower Risk/Least Concern

Species attributes

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

Range

	Estimate	Data quality
Extent of Occurrence (breeding/resident)	44,500,000 km²
Extent of Occurrence (non-breeding)	123,000,000 km²
Severely fragmented?	no	-

Population

	Estimate	Data quality	Derivation	Year of estimate
Population size	unknown	poor	estimated	2012
Population trend	unknown	-	-	-
Generation length	9.6 years	-	-	-

Population justification: The global population has been estimated to number c.4,800,000-8,900,000 individuals (Wetlands International 2015). The European population is estimated at 1,340,000-1,990,000 pairs, which equates to 2,670,000-3,980,000 mature individuals or 4,000,000-5,970,000 individuals (BirdLife International 2015). Combining the new figures for the European population (BirdLife International 2015) with estimates from the other populations in Wetlands International (2015) provides an overall estimate of 4,400,000-8,200,000 individuals. National population estimates include: > c.1,000 individuals on migration and > c.1,000 wintering individuals in China; c.1,000-10,000 individuals on migration and > c.1,000 wintering individuals in Taiwan; > c.1,000 individuals on migration and > c.1,000 wintering individuals in Korea; < c.10,000 individuals on migration and c.1,000-10,000 wintering individuals in Japan and c.10,000-1 million breeding pairs and > c.1,000 individuals on migration in Russia (Brazil 2009).

Trend justification: The overall population trend is unclear. Some populations have unknown trends (Wetlands International 2015). This species has undergone a large and statistically significant increase over the last 40 years in North America (361% increase over 40 years, equating to a 46.6% increase per decade; data from Breeding Bird Survey and/or Christmas Bird Count: Butcher and Niven 2007). Note, however, that these surveys cover less than 50% of the species's range in North America. Between 1990 and 2013 the European population is estimated to have declined moderately (EBCC 2015).

Country/territory distribution

Country/Territory	Presence	Origin	Resident	Breeding visitor	Non-breeding visitor	Passage migrant
Afghanistan	extant	native				yes
Albania	extant	native			yes
Algeria	extant	native
Angola	extant	vagrant
Antigua and Barbuda	extant	native
Armenia	extant	native		yes
Australia	extant	vagrant
Austria	extant	native	yes
Azerbaijan	extant	native	yes
Bahamas	extant	vagrant
Bahrain	extant	native			yes	yes
Bangladesh	extant	native
Barbados	extant	native
Belarus	extant	native	yes
Belgium	extant	native	yes
Benin	extant	native
Bermuda (to UK)	extant	native
Bosnia and Herzegovina	extant	native	yes
Botswana	extant	vagrant
Brunei	extant	vagrant
Bulgaria	extant	native	yes
Burkina Faso	extant	native
Burundi	extant	vagrant
Cambodia	extant	native
Cameroon	extant	vagrant
Canada	extant	native	yes
Cape Verde	extant	native
Chad	extant	vagrant
China (mainland)	extant	native			yes
Congo, The Democratic Republic of the	extant	vagrant
Côte d'Ivoire	extant	native
Croatia	extant	native	yes
Cuba	extant	vagrant
Cyprus	extant	native			yes
Czechia	extant	native	yes
Denmark	extant	native	yes			yes
Djibouti	extant	native
Dominica	extant	native
Egypt	extant	native
Eritrea	extant	native
Estonia	extant	native	yes
Ethiopia	extant	native
Faroe Islands (to Denmark)	extant	native	yes
Finland	extant	native	yes			yes
France	extant	native	yes			yes
French Guiana	extant	native
Gambia	extant	native
Georgia	extant	native	yes
Germany	extant	native	yes			yes
Ghana	extant	native
Gibraltar (to UK)	extant	native			yes
Greece	extant	native	yes			yes
Greenland (to Denmark)	extant	native	yes
Grenada	extant	vagrant
Guadeloupe (to France)	extant	native
Guam (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Guinea	extant	vagrant
Guinea-Bissau	extant	native
Hong Kong (China)	extant	native
Hungary	extant	native	yes			yes
Iceland	extant	native	yes
India	extant	native
Indonesia	extant	native
Iran, Islamic Republic of	extant	native	yes			yes
Iraq	extant	native	yes			yes
Ireland	extant	native	yes
Israel	extant	native			yes	yes
Italy	extant	native	yes
Japan	extant	native
Jordan	extant	native			yes	yes
Kazakhstan	extant	native		yes
Kenya	extant	native
Kuwait	extant	native			yes	yes
Kyrgyzstan	extant	native		yes
Laos	extant	native
Latvia	extant	native	yes
Lebanon	extant	native			yes	yes
Liberia	extant	vagrant
Libya	extant	native
Liechtenstein	extant	native		yes
Lithuania	extant	native	yes
Luxembourg	extant	native			yes
Malaysia	extant	native
Maldives	extant	vagrant
Mali	extant	native
Malta	extant	native			yes
Martinique (to France)	extant	native
Mauritania	extant	native
Mexico	extant	native
Micronesia, Federated States of	extant	native			yes
Moldova	extant	native	yes			yes
Monaco	extant	uncertain
Mongolia	extant	native		yes
Montenegro	extant	native	yes
Montserrat (to UK)	extant	native
Morocco	extant	native
Myanmar	extant	native
Nepal	extant	native
Netherlands	extant	native	yes
Niger	extant	native
Nigeria	extant	native
North Korea	extant	native
North Macedonia	extant	native	yes
Northern Mariana Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Norway	extant	native		yes		yes
Oman	extant	native			yes
Pakistan	extant	native
Palau	extant	native			yes
Palestine	extant	native			yes
Papua New Guinea	extant	vagrant
Philippines	extant	native
Poland	extant	native	yes			yes
Portugal	extant	native	yes
Puerto Rico (to USA)	extant	native
Qatar	extant	native			yes
Romania	extant	native	yes			yes
Russia	extant	native		yes		yes
Russia (Asian)	extant	native		yes
Russia (Central Asian)	extant	native		yes		yes
Russia (European)	extant	native		yes		yes
Rwanda	extant	native
Saudi Arabia	extant	native			yes	yes
Senegal	extant	native
Serbia	extant	native	yes
Seychelles	extant	vagrant
Sierra Leone	extant	vagrant
Singapore	extant	native
Slovakia	extant	native	yes			yes
Slovenia	extant	native	yes			yes
Somalia	extant	native
South Africa	extant	vagrant
South Korea	extant	native
South Sudan	extant	native			yes
Spain	extant	native	yes			yes
Sri Lanka	extant	native
St Kitts and Nevis	extant	native
St Lucia	extant	native
St Pierre and Miquelon (to France)	extant	native			yes	yes
St Vincent and the Grenadines	extant	native
Sudan	extant	native
Suriname	extant	native
Svalbard and Jan Mayen Islands (to Norway)	extant	native		yes
Sweden	extant	native	yes			yes
Switzerland	extant	native	yes
Syria	extant	native			yes	yes
Taiwan, China	extant	native
Tajikistan	extant	native
Tanzania	extant	native
Thailand	extant	native
Togo	extant	vagrant
Trinidad and Tobago	extant	native
Tunisia	extant	native
Türkiye	extant	native	yes
Turkmenistan	extant	native
Turks and Caicos Islands (to UK)	extant	vagrant
Uganda	extant	native
Ukraine	extant	native	yes			yes
United Arab Emirates	extant	native			yes
United Kingdom	extant	native	yes
USA	extant	native		yes
Uzbekistan	extant	native		yes
Vietnam	extant	native
Virgin Islands (to USA)	extant	native			yes
Western Sahara	extant	native
Yemen	extant	native			yes	yes
Zimbabwe	extant	vagrant

Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas (IBA)

Country/Territory	IBA Name
Bulgaria	Maritsa-Plovdiv
Canada	Lagune du Havre aux Basques et plage de l'Ouest
Canada	Quidi Vidi Lake
Canada	Quoddy Region
China (mainland)	Aksu River basin
China (mainland)	Barkol Lake and grassland
China (mainland)	Bayanbulak and Kaidu River Valley
China (mainland)	Bosten Lake
China (mainland)	Desert and wetland from Northern Urumqi to Dabancheng
China (mainland)	Ebi Nur and Kuytun River
China (mainland)	Hotan Oasis
China (mainland)	Lower reaches of Tarim River
China (mainland)	Markit-Yarkant Oasis
China (mainland)	Oasis, Desert and Wetland at Mosuowan
China (mainland)	Qiemo Oasis and Qarqan River
China (mainland)	Xayar forest and wetland
Finland	Ahtialanjärvi
Germany	Schleswig-Holstein Wadden Sea National Park (includes the Halligs, Kniepsand/Amrum, Lister Koog, Rantumbecken, Rickelsb
Hong Kong (China)	Inner Deep Bay and Shenzhen River catchment area
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Anzali Mordab complex
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Arjan Protected Area
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Bandar Kiashar lagoon and mouth of Sefid Rud
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Hamoun-i Sabari and Hamoun-i Hirmand
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Khouran Straits
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Lake Alagol, Lake Ulmagol and Lake Ajigol
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Lake Maharlu
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Miankaleh Peninsula and Gorgan Bay
Iran, Islamic Republic of	Shadegan marshes and tidal mudflats of Khor-al Amaya and Khor Musa
Iran, Islamic Republic of	South Caspian shore, from Astara to Gomishan
Israel	Carmel coast
Israel	Lake Kinneret and Kinerot
Kazakhstan	Kamysh-Samarskie Lakes
Kazakhstan	Korgalzhyn State Nature Reserve
Kazakhstan	Shoshkakol Lakes
Kazakhstan	Sorbulak Lake System
Kazakhstan	Terenkol Lake
Kazakhstan	Zhaltyr Lake
Mongolia	Taigam Lake
Netherlands	Biesbosch
Netherlands	Haringvliet
Netherlands	Lake IJsselmeer
Netherlands	Nieuwkoopse Plassen & De Haeck
Netherlands	Oosterschelde
Netherlands	Wadden Sea
Norway	Tautra & Svaet
Oman	Al Batinah coast
Oman	Khawr Hassan
Oman	Khawr Shinas and Khawr Liwa
Oman	Quriyat - Daghmar
Oman	Ras al Hadd
Romania	Black Sea
Romania	Buhuşu reservoir - Bacău - Tătărăşti
Romania	Câmpia Crişurilor
Romania	Danube Delta
Romania	Dunăre - Olteniţa
Romania	Lake Dunăreni
Romania	Lake Oltina
Romania	Olteniţa - Ulmeni
Romania	Suhaia
Romania	Vedea - Dunăre
Russia (Asian)	Avachinskaya Bay and Starichkov Island
Russia (Asian)	Kharchinskoye lake
Russia (Central Asian)	Blagoveschenskaya (Kulunda lake and vicinity)
Russia (Central Asian)	Dvuob'ye
Russia (Central Asian)	Gor'koye lake near Novotroitskoye village
Russia (Central Asian)	Lake system near Lotoshnoye village
Russia (Central Asian)	Lake Tarutino
Russia (Central Asian)	Lower Ob'
Russia (Central Asian)	Tarutino Lake
Russia (Central Asian)	Upper streams of Ob' river
Russia (European)	Beglitskaya sand-spit
Russia (European)	Berezoviye islands of Vyborg Bay
Russia (European)	Ptich'ya magistral' area
Russia (European)	Sitnikovski Reserve
Russia (European)	Utrish Reserve and adjacent coastal waters
Serbia	Carska bara
Serbia	Okanj I Rusanda
Serbia	Subotica lakes and sandy terrain
Serbia	Usce Save u Dunav
Slovenia	River Drava
Spain	Albufera de Valencia marshes
Türkiye	Bosphorus
Türkiye	Gediz Delta
United Arab Emirates	Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary (Khor Dubai)
Uzbekistan	Balykchi Fish Farm
Uzbekistan	Khorezm Fish Farm and adjacent lakes

Habitats & altitude

Habitat (level 1)	Habitat (level 2)	Importance	Occurrence
Artificial/Aquatic & Marine	Artificial/Aquatic - Wastewater Treatment Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Arable Land	suitable	non-breeding
Artificial/Terrestrial	Urban Areas	suitable	non-breeding
Grassland	Subtropical/Tropical Seasonally Wet/Flooded	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Coastal/Supratidal	Coastal Sand Dunes	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Rocky Shoreline	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Salt Marshes (Emergent Grasses)	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits, Etc	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches	suitable	breeding
Marine Intertidal	Tidepools	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Estuaries	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Macroalgal/Kelp	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Pelagic	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Seagrass (Submerged)	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy	suitable	breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	non-breeding
Marine Neritic	Subtidal Sandy-Mud	suitable	breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Permanent Rivers/Streams/Creeks (includes waterfalls)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Lakes (over 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Wetlands (inland)	Seasonal/Intermittent Freshwater Marshes/Pools (under 8ha)	suitable	non-breeding
Altitude		Occasional altitudinal limits

Utilisation

Purpose	Scale
Food - human	subsistence, national
Pets/display animals, horticulture	international
Sport hunting/specimen collecting	subsistence, national

Recommended citation
BirdLife International (2024) Species factsheet: Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus. Downloaded from https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/black-headed-gull-larus-ridibundus on 23/11/2024.
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 23/11/2024.