Afghanistan (B), Albania (NB), Algeria, Austria (P), Azerbaijan (B) (NB), Bahrain (P), Bulgaria (B) (NB) (P), Cyprus (NB) (P), Egypt (B), Eritrea, Ethiopia, France (B) (NB) (P), Gambia, Greece (B) (NB) (P), Guinea, Guinea-bissau (B), India, Iran [Islamic Republic of] (B) (NB) (P), Iraq (B) (NB), Israel, Italy (B) (NB) (P), Jordan (NB) (P), Kazakhstan (B), Kuwait (NB), Lebanon (NB), Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of] (B) (NB), Malta, Mauritania (B), Morocco, Oman (NB), Pakistan, Qatar, Romania (B), Russia (Asian) (B), Russia (Central Asian) (NB), Russia (European) (B) (NB) (P), Saudi Arabia (NB), Senegal (B), Spain (B) (NB), Sudan, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia (B) (NB), Turkey (B) (NB), Turkmenistan (B), Ukraine (B) (NB), United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Western Sahara (B), Yemen.
Vagrant to Antigua And Barbuda, Côte dIvoire, Djibouti, Germany, Gibraltar, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Kenya, Montenegro (NB), Nepal, Nigeria, Poland, Portugal, Serbia (NB), Slovenia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, United Kingdom.
Unknown to China (mainland) (P).
Widely scattered, isolated localities from Senegal, Mauritania, southern and eastern Iberia through Mediterranean, Black Sea, Asia Minor and Middle East to eastern Kazakhstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north-western India. Winters south to Horn of Africa.
 
Population
Estimated population is 310,000 - 380,000 (2010).
Food
Mainly fish. Also insects and marine invertebrates.
Voice
Similar to Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus), but lower and drier 'aaaa', excited 'ka-ka-ka' and drawn-out 'kraaah...'. Also nasal 'krerrr-krerrr'.
Slender-billed Gull (Chroicocephalus genei) [XC733202]
by Christian Kerihuel from Stepnoy, Sozak, South Kazakhstan Province, Kazakhstan (nocturnal flight call)
(genei) [XC839679]
by julien Birard from Baisse de cinq cent Francs, Camargue (Bouches du Rh\u00f4ne), France (call, flight call)
Nest
A deep scrape or shallow depression, preferably positioned on open mud, on the coasts of land-locked seas, on sand-spits, beaches and islands with mudflats and marshes in shallow tidal waters, and on saline inland seas and steppe lakes. In colonies.
Subspecies
Possibly closest to Black-billed Gull (Larus bulleri). Formerly listed as Laru gelastes.