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  • Glaucous gull

Glaucous gull

Glaucous gull (adult/winter plumage)
Glaucous gull (adult/winter plumage)
Glaucous gull (first-winter plumage)
Glaucous gull (first-winter plumage)
  • Scientific name: Larus hyperboreus
  • Bird family: Gulls and terns
  • UK conservation status: Amber
  • Protected by The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981

Key information

The glaucous gull is a large pale gull with white wing tips. Younger birds are creamy white or more biscuit coloured, depending on age. All have pale wingtips. It is bigger than a herring gull and bulkier, with a fiercer expression, larger beak and squarer head than the smaller but virtually identically-plumaged plumaged Iceland gull.

What they eat:

Scavenges for carrion, shellfish and scraps.

Measurements:

Length:
62-68cm
Wingspan:
150-165cm
Weight:
1-2kg

Population:

UK wintering:
170 birds

Identifying features:

This bird species has different identifying features depending on sex/age/season.

Glaucous gull (adult/winter plumage)

Adult glaucous gull in winter plumage
Feather colour: Brown Cream/buff Grey White
Leg colour: Pink
Beak: Red Yellow Medium length Powerful Chunky
Natural habitats: Marine and intertidal Wetland

Glaucous gull (first-winter plumage)

Glaucous gull, first winter
Feather colour: Brown Cream/buff Grey White
Leg colour: Pink
Beak: Black Red Medium length Powerful Chunky
Natural habitats: Marine and intertidal Wetland

Similar birds:

  • Herring gull adult
    Herring gull
  • Adult Iceland gull, winter plumage
    Iceland gull

Where and when to see them

Glaucous gulls can be seen at the coast, most often on beaches and in harbours and bays. They are found inland where large gulls gather in numbers - at rubbish tips and in roosts at reservoirs.

* This map is intended as a guide. It shows general distribution rather than detailed, localised populations.
  • Resident
  • Passage
  • Summer
  • Winter
Glaucous gull distribution map

The glaucous gull is a winter visitor, mostly seen between November and March.

  • jan
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