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Lesser Black-Backed Gull | Larus fuscus
Kleine mantelmeeuw | Gaviota sombría
The dark-backed large gull of the region, which does not breed here but can be found on almost every coast in winter. Four forms meet: western birds on Morocco's Atlantic coast, the black Baltic Gull on passage along the Nile and the Red Sea, and the Siberian forms heuglini and barabensis, which winter in large numbers in the Gulf, the Red Sea and Oman.
Voice
Fuller and deeper than European Herring Gull: a raw, barking ga-ga-ga and a plaintive kyow. In the region flocks at roosts and rubbish dumps are the most vocal.
Recording: Francesco Sottile — CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · converted to mono · xeno-canto
Identification
A large gull with long, narrow wings reaching well beyond the tail, a fairly slender yellow bill with a red gonys spot, a pale eye and yellow legs. Mantle shade varies by form: slate grey in graellsii, darker in intermedius, almost black and without contrast with the wingtip in the slim Baltic fuscus, dark slate grey in heuglini and clearly paler, mid-grey with much black in the wingtip, in barabensis. In winter plumage western birds have a streaked head, fuscus and barabensis an almost white one. First-years are dark brown and scaly, with a black bill, a broad black tail band and dark inner primaries without a pale window; adult plumage is reached only in the fourth calendar year.
Confusion species
Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) and Armenian Gull (Larus armenicus) also have yellow legs, but a paler, bluish-grey mantle and a heavier head. Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans) is paler-mantled, with a long, pear-shaped head, a small dark eye and flesh-coloured to yellowish legs. Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) is much larger, with a huge bill and flesh-coloured legs. Sooty Gull (Ichthyaetus hemprichii) and White-eyed Gull (Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus) of the Red Sea and Arabian coasts are smaller, with a dark hood and a brownish mantle. Separating barabensis, heuglini and Caspian Gull in the Gulf is difficult and relies on mantle shade, moult and wing pattern.
Habitat
Coasts, harbours, lagoons, tidal flats and open sea; inland at rubbish dumps, fields, fish ponds, reservoirs and along large rivers such as the Nile, Euphrates and Tigris. Rests on beaches and sandbars and follows fishing boats.
Where the bird is most at home, classified by the habitats of North Africa and the Middle East.
Range and movements
Does not breed in the region. Western birds (graellsii and intermedius) winter in tens of thousands along the Atlantic coast of Morocco and Western Sahara and inland at dumps and fields, and in smaller numbers along the Mediterranean coast to Tunisia. Baltic Gull (fuscus) passes in autumn and spring through Libya, Egypt (Nile valley, delta lakes, Suez Canal), Israel (Eilat) and along the Red Sea to East Africa; some stay. The form heuglini winters commonly along the whole Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, Socotra, Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf, from Egypt and Saudi Arabia via Yemen to Oman, the Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait, and migrates through Iraq. Steppe Gull barabensis winters mainly on the Gulf coast and in Oman, where it is locally the commonest large gull. Immatures summer at many sites. Beyond the region the species breeds from Iceland and western Europe to northern Siberia and the steppes of Kazakhstan and winters to West and East Africa and South Asia.
- Resident
- Winter visitor (c. Apr–Sep)
- Passage (Mar–Apr, Oct–Nov)
- dark = core range, pale = thinly spread
How and when to look
On Morocco's Atlantic coast (Essaouira, Agadir, the Souss estuary) the western forms are everywhere in winter. In Oman the beaches of Barr al Hikman, Masirah and Salalah and the Muscat fish market are ideal for studying heuglini and barabensis alongside Caspian Gulls. At Eilat Baltic Gulls pass in March and April.
Conservation status
Not globally threatened. The western forms have increased strongly in recent decades and increasingly winter at rubbish dumps; Baltic Gull has declined sharply on its breeding grounds. In the region a common winter visitor and passage migrant. Some authors treat heuglini and barabensis as separate species; this guide follows AviList, which places them in Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Scientific name
Larus fuscus | 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. Larus is Latin, from Ancient Greek laros, and appears to have referred to a gull or another large seabird. fuscus is Latin for 'dark', black or brown, after the dark mantle and wings. The specimen the first description was based on came from Sweden.