Unknown to South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.
South-central Chile and Uruguay south to Tierra del Fuego and Falkland Is; probably also south-eastern Brazil (Rio Grande do Sul). Winters north to northern Chile and central-eastern Brazil.
 
Population
Estimated population is 100,000 - 1,000,000 (2010).
Brown-hooded Gull (Chroicocephalus maculipennis) [XC534306]
by Meena Haribal from Puerto Montt city, Llanquihue, Los Lagos, Chile (flight call)
Brown-hooded Gull (Chroicocephalus maculipennis) [XC59983]
by Peter Boesman from Porvenir, Magallanes, XII Region, Chile (song)
Subspecies
Sometimes treated as a subspecies of Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus). Morphometric analysis links it most closely with Brown-headed Gull (Larus brunnicephalus) or Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae).