No.286 Black-headed Gull Larus ridibundus

L=40cm

Rank : 2
Winter Visitor
Common winter visitor to middle- to down-streams ofAsakawa River and Tamagawa River. One of the smaller gulls in Japan.Appearance varies greatly with season and time of the day; sometimes inlarge flocks of several hundreds, and none at all at other times. Recentlywe donft see as large flock as we used to. Although we usually see thegulls in winter plumage, we at times find a few in summer plumage withblack heads mixed in a flock. In many cases, their flocks include GreatEgret, Little Egret, Grey Heron, and Great Cormorant.

Black-headed Gull(Adult :Winter plumage)

Black-headed Gull(Immature)

Black-headed Gull(Summer plumage:right individual)

Black-headed Gull(Flock)