Black-headed gull

The Black-headed gull ( Larus ridibundus ) is a watery Oiseau of the family of the Laridae, a family gathering the Mouette S and the Goéland S.

Identification

The Black-headed gull is of color Blanc He with the wings gray beads except the end Noir E. The head is brown dark chocolate except in Hiver where it is white with a spot noirâtre behind the eye. The legs are orange or orange red. The nozzle is red-jaune.

In all the post-youthful plumages, the Black-headed gull presents a broad white triangle shining extending from the wrist at the end of the wing and a black line marking the external edge of the primary rémiges.

One often confuses the gull with the seagull. This last is more imposing than the gull, and several species of seagulls have a red spot on each side of the nozzle, which makes it possible to differentiate them. This distinction does not exist in English and German in particular.

One also easily confuses it with the Mouette mélanocéphale which presents it also a dark head in summer (black however instead of chocolate) on a surface of distribution which is recovered largely in all the South of Europe. What makes it possible to distinguish them easily is the clearer color of the plumage of the Black-headed gull and the permanence of the black spots at the end of the wings of the latter, even in wintry time.

It is a Mouette from 33 to 43 cm length with a scale from 84 to 110 cm, heavy between 195 and 374 G. Its other measurements are: 282 to 332 mm for the wing, 109 to 125 mm for the tail, 28 to 35 mm for the nozzle, 39 to 49 mm for the tarsus and 30 to 42 mm for the median finger. The male is on average a little taller than the female but of broad overlappings of the various biometric characteristics are observed. In the same way, the adults are on average a little taller than the immature ones.

The Mâle S adults are a little heavier than the Femelle S throughout the year. The young birds are lighter than the adults from August at April while the opposite is observed May at July.

The geographical variation is weak, if it really exists. The birds of the extreme, is sometimes brought back to the subspecies sibiricus , have on average a longer nozzle and would have possibly more black to the primary rémiges but this difference is weak, even non-existent.

Surface of distribution

One finds it almost everywhere in Europe like in part of the Asia (until in Mongolia). Sedentary in Great Britain and in the Mediterranean countries, it is a bird Migrateur elsewhere. In winter, it meets the Baltic with the Mediterranean, coasts of the North Africa included/understood. Of European origin, it extended in Iceland, with the Greenland to nest today until in North America.

Habitat

The Black-headed gull attends the Lac S and pond S where it does not find vast a Roselière S, the Marais and coastal ponds. One also finds it downtown and in the cultivated zones.

Behavior

The Black-headed gull is a Espèce not very savage and sociable. Its name comes from its raucous and sound cry.

Food mode

It is Omnivore. Mainly it nourishes animals, insects and worms of ground, but also of plants and household waste or industrialists. She plays the part of street sweeper thus but can also subtilize the preys of other birds. The methods which the Black-headed gull employs to find its food and the nature of this one vary considerably according to the area, the season, the preys available but also the individual preferences. This bird is able to adapt very quickly to new conditions.

Reproduction

The Black-headed gull reproduces close to not very deep calm water, which they soft, brackish or are salted, generally on the edges of the ponds, the lakes and the slow rivers, in the zones of flood, close to the Lagune S, the delta S, the anthropic Estuaire S or the mediums like the mud tanks, the gravel pits or sand pits, channels and tanks.

The Black-headed gull niche generally in very variable colonies of sizes, but of the isolated couples can settle and reproduce successfully.

The female lays one brooded per annum, of 3 eggs, April at July. The nest is of varied construction, it is made vegetable materials posed on tufts of Laîche or Jonc S, or even on rafts.

Movements

At the beginning of July, the first black-headed gulls desert the colonies. Just like in spring, their troops travel by day like night in flights out of rafters. The migration postnuptiale continues until December. This species is especially migrating in the east and the north of its surface of reproduction where the winters are rigorous. It is erratic or migrating partial elsewhere. The various populations mix freely during the migrations and in wintering. The premarital passage lasts from February to April. In May and June, are observed wandering birds.

Anecdote

The black-headed gull is one of the recurring animals of the data bases of Gaston Lagaffe.

Reference

Sweat F., the Black-headed gull , Awakening Editor, Holy Yrieix, 1993. ISBN 978-2840000013

External bonds

Photographs of Black-headed gulls

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