Grey-headed Gull (Larus cirrocephalus)

Other Names (World)
Grey-headed Gull, Gray-headed Gull, Grey-hooded Gull, Gray-hooded Gull

Family
Laridae (Gulls, Terns, Skimmers)

Size
36 - 38 cm

First Described (Guide)
Vieillot, 1818

Range (Guide)

Angola, Argentina, Benin, Botswana, Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Chad, Congo [The Democratic Republic of the], Ecuador (NB), Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-bissau (B), Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Rwanda, Senegal (B), Sierra Leone, South Africa (B), Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania [United Republic of], Uganda (B), Western Sahara (B) (NB), Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Vagrant to Algeria, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Comoros, C�te dIvoire, Egypt, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Ghana, Israel, Jordan, Lesotho, Liberia, Somalia, Spain, Togo, Tunisia, Uruguay (B).

Rarity Status
Currently this species is not classified as a rarity in this country OR information has not been updated.

Population
Estimated population is 130,000 - 1,000,000 (2010).

Status LC
For more information see BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

Food
Mainly fish. Also invertebrates, including insects, molluscs and termites, the eggs of herons and cormorants, and dead fish and refuse obtained by scavenging.

Voice
Xeno-Canto Sound Files (more (20)...)

Grey-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus) [XC657608]
by Dawie de Swardt from Dam on Church str intersection, Kringpad rd, Bloemfontein, Free State, South Africa (call)

Grey-headed Gull (Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus) [XC834158]
by id from Victoria, Entre R\u00edos, Argentina (flight call)

Nest
Varies from a shallow scrape to a well built cup of rushes and grasses, on bare ground, in clumps of reeds and papyrus on islands, or on floating vegetation, often camouflaged in tall, thick vegetation.

Subspecies
Morphometric analysis links it with Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae) and Andean Gull (Larus serranus).

The following 2 subspecies are recognised:

cirrocephalus Vieillot, 1818 - Coastal Ecuador and Peru; coastal central Brazil to Argentina (southern Buenos Aires), and up Paraguay and Paraná basins inland to Santa F� (Laguna de Melincu�).
poiocephalus (Swainson, 1837) - Coasts and inland rivers of western Africa; widely scattered localities from Ethiopia to Malawi and southern Africa, including Rift Valley lakes (Naivasha, Manyara, Elmenteita, Nakuru, Turkana).

References
See References.

Files:

JPG files for Grey-headed Gull (Larus cirrocephalus) - 10 files

More Information

BirdLife International

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BirdLife International Species Factsheet.

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