Larus ridibundus (Common black-headed gull, Black-headed gull) 

Swartkopmeeu [Afrikaans]; Kokmeeuw [Dutch]; Mouette rieuse [French]; Lachmöwe [German]; Guincho [Portuguese]

Life > Eukaryotes > Opisthokonta > Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Deuterostomia > Chordata > Craniata > Vertebrata (vertebrates)  > Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) > Teleostomi (teleost fish) > Osteichthyes (bony fish) > Class: Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) > Stegocephalia (terrestrial vertebrates) > Tetrapoda (four-legged vertebrates) > Reptiliomorpha > Amniota > Reptilia (reptiles) > Romeriida > Diapsida > Archosauromorpha > Archosauria > Dinosauria (dinosaurs) > Saurischia > Theropoda (bipedal predatory dinosaurs) > Coelurosauria > Maniraptora > Aves (birds) > Order: Charadriiformes > Family: Laridae >  Genus: Larus

Common black-headed gull, USA. [photo Jeff Poklen ©]
Common black-headed gull in breeding plumage, Paarl Bird Sanctuary, South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]	Common black-headed gull in breeding plumage, Paarl Bird Sanctuary, South Africa. [photo Trevor Hardaker ©]

Distribution and habitat

Mainly breeds between 30-65° North, from southern Greenland east to China and Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, heading south in the non-breeding season to the coast of the South China Sea and Africa, from West Africa to Eritrea south to Uganda and Kenya. It is a rare vagrant to the wetlands of southern Africa, with a total of seven records, with single sightings at the central Namibian coast, Caprivi Strip (Namibia), north-central Zimbabwe, central Mozambique and the Cape Peninsula; it has been sighted twice in Gauteng.

References

• Hockey PAR, Dean WRJ and Ryan PG 2005. Roberts - Birds of southern Africa, VIIth ed. The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.