All species › Waders, gulls and terns › Skimmers, noddies, terns and gulls › Great Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull | Larus marinus
Grote mantelmeeuw | Gavión atlántico | Gaivotão-de-costas-negras
The Great Black-backed Gull is the largest gull in the world and breeds on the coasts of the North Atlantic, in Europe and in north-eastern North America. A small part of the American population winters farther south along the east coast. In the guide area it is known only as a very rare vagrant.
Voice
A deep, hoarse kaw and a low, laughing owk-owk-owk, lower than in other gulls.
Recording: David Darrell-Lambert — CC BY-NC 4.0 · xeno-canto
Identification
64–78 cm, a very large, bulky gull with a heavy bill, a rather small head for its body and flesh-coloured legs. Adults have a black mantle and upperwing, a white head that stays almost unstreaked in winter, a yellow bill with a red spot and large white tips to the primaries. Immatures are chequered white and brown, with a white head, a pale rump and a dark bill. Adult plumage is reached only after about four years. The sexes are alike.
Confusion species
Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus is clearly smaller, with a blackish-brown mantle, greenish-yellow legs and smaller white wingtips; in the guide area it is the usual large black-backed gull. Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus is smaller and slimmer, with a dark grey mantle and yellow legs. Belcher's Gull Larus belcheri is smaller, with a black tail band and a yellow bill with a black and red tip.
Habitat
Coasts, estuaries, harbours and rubbish dumps. It eats fish, carrion, refuse and also other seabirds. It does not breed in the guide area.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the vegetation units of the Andes and the west coast.
Range and movements
In the guide area only as a very rare vagrant, with at most a few records on the coast. Breeds on the coasts of north-western Europe, Iceland, Greenland and north-eastern North America; in the Americas it winters south to the south-eastern United States and rarely to the Caribbean.
How and when to look
A vagrant can only be found among flocks of large gulls in harbours and estuaries on the coast. Note the heavy build, flesh-coloured legs and large white wingtips to separate it from Kelp Gull.
Conservation status
Least Concern. The population is declining in parts of the breeding range.
Scientific name
Larus marinus | Linnaeus, 1758
Linnaeus described the species in 1758 and placed it straight away in the genus where it still stands. He introduced the genus Larus in that same work. The genus name comes from Greek laros or Latin larus, a word for a gull or another large seabird. The species name comes from Latin marinus, 'of the sea'. The specimen the first description was based on came from Gotland, Sweden.