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Common Gull (Larus canus) — photo 1 of 6
© Andreas Trepte CC BY-SA 2.5

Gulls and terns · Shorebirds

Common Gull

Larus canus

Year-round

Voice

Call

Jochem verweij

0:14

Song

Sonothèque ADVL

0:26

Call

Grégoire Chauvot

0:09

How to recognize it

  • Medium gull, smaller than a Herring Gull

  • Grey back, white underside; long narrow wings

  • Thin bill, yellow-green bill and legs

  • Winter head and neck with grey-brown streaks; high-pitched laughing call

About the species

Common Gull looks lighter and calmer than many other gulls. An adult has a grey back, white underparts, and a neat shape with long wings and a fairly slender bill.

It flies smoothly and quietly, often gliding over water or simply hanging in the air. Its voice is high, sharp, and piercing, especially in spring and when alarmed.

It uses rivers, lakes, marshes, sea coasts, and increasingly city spaces. It eats fish, small water animals, insects, and almost any available food, and many leave for milder areas in winter.

Did you know?

  • Moody colonists

    Common Gulls are moody colonists that will suddenly forsake a long-occupied loch for no apparent reason and just as suddenly return, leaving traditional Highland breeding sites empty for a season.

  • Least common Common Gull

    The Common Gull badly belies its name — in Britain it is the least common of all nesting gulls, almost never breeding south of the Scottish border despite a name suggesting ubiquity.

  • Ducks hire gull bodyguards

    Tufted ducks deliberately nest inside or beside Common Gull colonies, exploiting the gulls' aggressive defence of their own nests as free protection against crows and magpies that otherwise destroy over half of all tufted clutches.

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