Lachmöwe

Bestimmung

This gull is .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);clip-path:polygon(0px 0px,0px 0px,0px 0px);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}37–44 cm (14+1⁄2–17+1⁄2 in) long with a 94–110 cm (37–43+1⁄2 in) wingspan and weighs 190–400 g (6+3⁄4–14+1⁄8 oz).<p>In flight, the white leading edge to the wing is a good field mark. The summer adult has a chocolate-brown head (not black, although does look black from a distance), pale grey body, black tips to the primary wing feathers, and red bill and legs. The hood is lost in winter, leaving just two dark spots. Immature birds have a mottled pattern of brown spots over most of the body, and a black band on the tail. There is no difference in plumage between the sexes.<p>It breeds in colonies in large reed beds or marshes, or on islands in lakes, nesting on the ground. Like most gulls, it is highly gregarious in winter, both when feeding or in evening roosts. It is not a pelagic species and is rarely seen at sea far from coasts.<p>The black-headed gull is a bold and opportunistic feeder. It eats insects, fish, seeds, worms, scraps, and carrion in towns, or invertebrates in ploughed fields with equal relish. It is a noisy species, especially in colonies, with a familiar "kree-ar" call. Its scientific name means laughing gull.<p>This species takes two years to reach maturity. First-year birds have a black terminal tail band, more dark areas in the wings, and, in summer, a less fully developed dark hood. Like most gulls, black-headed gulls are long-lived birds, with a maximum age of at least 32.9 years recorded in the wild, in addition to an anecdote now believed of dubious authenticity regarding a 63-year-old bird.

Taxonomie

Genus: Chroicocephalus; Family: Laridae; Order: Charadriiformes.

Wissenschaftlicher Name

Chroicocephalus ridibundus

Autorität

(Linnaeus, 1766)

Ordnung

Regenpfeiferartige

Familie

Möwen (Laridae)

Gattung

Chroicocephalus

Verbreitung und Lebensraum

Black-headed gulls can be found over much of Europe. It is also found in across the Palearctic to Japan and east China. Small numbers also breed in northeastern Canada and can be seen in winter in northeast North America as far south as Virginia, often with the similar-looking Bonaparte's Gull and also in some Caribbean islands. Recorded as a very rare transient gull in the Carolina coast.

Brutgebiet

PAL : coastal far s Greenland, inland Iceland, temperate and subarctic w Europe across Russia to Yakutsk region, Kamchatka, Sakhalin (e Russia); in south through Caspian Sea, n Central Asia, n, c Mongolia and ne China; also wc Newfoundland (se Canada)

Überwinterungsgebiet

AF, IO, OR : to coasts and offshore waters of n Atlantic Canada, se Greenland, North Sea and w Atlantic to Mediterranean and marginal seas; to Canary Is. and wc Africa; Arabian Sea and associated gulfs, n Indian Ocean; w North Pacific coasts from Japan to se China and Philippines; also inland in parts of Africa, Indian Subcontinent and se Asia

Zugverhalten

Vollzieher

Verhalten

Zugverhalten: Vollzieher.

Schutzstatus

Bestandstrend

unknown