Black-headed Gull

Chroicocephalus ridibundus

KingdomAnimalia (Animals)
PhylumChordata (Chordates)
ClassAves (Birds)
OrderCharadriiformes (Shorebirds and Allies)
FamilyLaridae (Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers)
GenusChroicocephalus (Masked Gulls and allies)
SpeciesChroicocephalus ridibundus (Black-headed Gull)

Daily sighting probability Insufficient data

at Plitvice Lakes National Park

7 Verified sightings at Plitvice Lakes National Park From 2019 to 2026

31,254 Verified sightings across all 48 parks From 2019 to 2026

☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted during daytime hours (6am–6pm)

About the Black-headed Gull

The black-headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is a small gull that breeds in much of the Palearctic in Europe and Asia, and also locally in smaller numbers in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, but many also remain in the milder areas of northwestern Europe. It was formerly sometimes cited as "common black-headed gull" to distinguish it from "great black-headed gull" (an old name for Pallas's gull).

The genus name Chroicocephalus is from the Ancient Greek words khroizo, "to colour", and kephale, "head". The specific name ridibundus is Latin for "laughing". The black-headed gull was formally described in 1766 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the twelfth edition of his Systema Naturae. He placed it with the other gulls in the genus Larus and coined the binomial name Larus ridibundus. Linnaeus specified the locality as Mari Europaeo or European seas.

Genetic studies published early in the 21st century showed that the genus Larus was paraphyletic with respect to other gull genera, and extensive changes to the taxonomy of gulls were made with many species of gull removed from Larus and transferred to other... Wikipedia →

Closest Relatives at Plitvice Lakes National Park

LC Endemic

Larus michahellis

Daily sighting probability Insufficient data

Actitis hypoleucos

Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare

Tringa nebularia

Daily sighting probability Insufficient data

Global Distribution

Where this species is recorded worldwide. Restricted to human observations from 2019 onwards — the same kind of record and the same period the probabilities on this page are built from, so collar-tracking studies, camera-trap arrays and museum specimens are excluded. Around Santa Rosa that removes 5,924 GPS fixes from a handful of tagged jaguars.

where this species is recorded (GBIF density — it tracks where observers go, not how likely a sighting is) · parks where it occurs — tap a pin for the sighting probability there

Parks Where Found

#	Park	Country	Daily sighting probability
1	Thingvellir National Park	🇮🇸 Iceland	~90%
2	Vatnajokull National Park	🇮🇸 Iceland	~70%
3	Camargue	🇫🇷 France	~70%
4	Fertő-Hanság National Park	🇭🇺 Hungary	~70%
5	Hortobágy National Park	🇭🇺 Hungary	~70%
6	Wadden Sea National Park	🇩🇪 Germany	~60%
7	Biebrza National Park	🇵🇱 Poland	~50%
8	Kiskunság National Park	🇭🇺 Hungary	~50%
9	Snowdonia National Park	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	~40%
10	Cairngorms National Park	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	~40%
11	Białowieża National Park	🇵🇱 Poland	~30%
12	Doñana National Park	🇪🇸 Spain	~20%
13	Sierra de Guadarrama National Park	🇪🇸 Spain	~20%
14	Bavarian Forest National Park	🇩🇪 Germany	~20%
15	Lake Nakuru National Park	🇰🇪 Kenya	~10%
16	Monfragüe National Park	🇪🇸 Spain	~10%
17	Gauja National Park	🇱🇻 Latvia	~10%
18	Sundarbans National Park	🇮🇳 India	<5%
19	Tatra National Park	🇸🇰 Slovakia	<5%
20	Keoladeo National Park	🇮🇳 India	<5%
21	Triglav National Park	🇸🇮 Slovenia	<5%
22	Murchison Falls National Park	🇺🇬 Uganda	<5%
23	Kaziranga National Park	🇮🇳 India	<5%
24	Gobi Gurvansaikhan National Park	🇲🇳 Mongolia	<5%
25	Pyrénées National Park	🇫🇷 France	<5%
26	Satpura National Park	🇮🇳 India	<5%
27	Chitwan National Park	🇳🇵 Nepal	<5%
28	Ngorongoro Conservation Area	🇹🇿 Tanzania	<5%
29	Main Ridge Forest Reserve	🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago	Insufficient data
30	Point Pelee National Park	🇨🇦 Canada	Insufficient data
31	Mercantour National Park	🇫🇷 France	Insufficient data
32	Channel Islands National Park	🇺🇸 United States	Insufficient data
33	Table Mountain National Park	🇿🇦 South Africa	Insufficient data
34	Plitvice Lakes National Park	🇭🇷 Croatia	Insufficient data
35	Cévennes National Park	🇫🇷 France	Insufficient data
36	Queen Elizabeth National Park	🇺🇬 Uganda	Insufficient data
37	Jim Corbett National Park	🇮🇳 India	Insufficient data
38	Cape Breton Highlands National Park	🇨🇦 Canada	Insufficient data
39	Ranthambore National Park	🇮🇳 India	Insufficient data
40	Nairobi National Park	🇰🇪 Kenya	Insufficient data
41	Raja Ampat	🇮🇩 Indonesia	Insufficient data
42	Gros Morne National Park	🇨🇦 Canada	Insufficient data
43	Sierra Nevada National Park	🇪🇸 Spain	Insufficient data
44	Bandhavgarh National Park	🇮🇳 India	Insufficient data
45	Tsavo East National Park	🇰🇪 Kenya	Insufficient data
46	Virunga National Park	🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo	Insufficient data
47	Manas National Park	🇮🇳 India	Insufficient data
48	Serengeti National Park	🇹🇿 Tanzania	Insufficient data

← Back to Plitvice Lakes National Park

Black-headed Gull

About the Black-headed Gull

Closest Relatives at Plitvice Lakes National Park

Yellow-legged Gull

Common Sandpiper

Common Greenshank

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found