Black-headed Gull

Chroicocephalus ridibundus

The black-headed gull is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic in Europe and Asia, and also locally in smaller numbers in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but many also remain in the milder areas of northwestern Europe. It was formerly sometimes cited as "common black-headed gull" to distinguish it from "great black-headed gull". Source

Where it is now

In the last 8 weeks this bird was recorded 156,797 times across 72 areas (each area is a 5 degree square).

See the Black-headed Gull on the live map

Movement and weather

Each season it is first heard regularly where daytime highs are around 13°C (typically 11 to 24°C, from 17 areas). That range is wide, so temperature alone does not explain when it turns up.

Over the weeks it was present in the past year, its centre in Europe ranged from 49°N in March to 62°N in May, about 1,400 km apart.

Arrival dates

The week it was first heard regularly in each region, after at least six weeks away. Dates differ from south to north, so a region has a range.

Download every area as CSV

Figures are effort corrected and come from automatic sound identification, which makes mistakes. How this is measured and how it compares with human observers.