Black-headed Gull

How to recognise it

• Sexes alike, in summer with a chocolate-brown head that looks black at a distance
• Red bill and red legs in summer plumage
• White leading edge to the upper wing, a good mark in flight
• In winter just a smudgy dark band above the eye and a black spot behind it

Call and song

The Black-headed Gull is noisy, especially in breeding colonies, with a harsh "krii-arr" call. Outside the breeding season, a sharp, piercing "kriiiärr" and a short, sharp "kik" are often heard at feeding sites.

Where and when

The Black-headed Gull is a partial migrant that breeds in Sweden. It occurs across large parts of the country, but more thinly in the Norrland interior and not in the mountains. It is reported all year round and from all 21 counties. On the 2025 Swedish Red List it is Near Threatened (NT), and in Skåne numbers have fallen by 85 percent since the mid 1970s.

Food and behaviour

It eats insects, fish, seeds, worms, food scraps and carrion in towns, and invertebrates on ploughed fields. In summer flocks often gather around tractors ploughing the fields. It can defend its nest very aggressively. Soon after the young have fledged, it migrates southwest. In winter it is very sociable, both when feeding and at shared evening roosts.