The brown-headed gull is a small gull which breeds in the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Ordos in Inner Mongolia. It is migratory, wintering on the coasts and large inland lakes of the Indian Subcontinent. As is the case with many gulls, was traditionally placed in the genus Larus.
Region
Central Asia and the Indian Subcontinent
Typical Environment
Breeds on the high plateaus from Tajikistan and the Pamirs across Xinjiang and the Tibetan Plateau to Inner Mongolia. Prefers large, often saline or brackish lakes with islands, marshy margins, and open shorelines for nesting. In the non-breeding season it disperses widely to coastal lagoons, estuaries, sandy beaches, and large inland reservoirs across the Indian Subcontinent and into Myanmar and adjacent Southeast Asia. It also frequents river mouths and urban waterfronts, where it roosts on sandbars, breakwaters, and piers.
Altitude Range
Sea level to 5200 m
Climate Zone
Highland
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The brown-headed gull breeds around high-altitude lakes across the Tibetan Plateau and adjacent Central Asia, then migrates south to winter along coasts and large inland waters of the Indian Subcontinent and parts of Southeast Asia. In breeding plumage it shows a rich chocolate-brown hood, unlike the darker blackish hoods of some similar gulls. It often forms dense colonies on islets and will readily exploit human-modified habitats in winter, including fishing harbors and city waterfronts.
Temperament
social and opportunistic
Flight Pattern
buoyant flier with alternating steady wingbeats and glides
Social Behavior
Typically nests in dense colonies on lake islands or marshy islets, often alongside terns and other gulls. Pairs are seasonally monogamous; both sexes build a nest of vegetation and share incubation and chick-rearing. Clutches usually contain 2–3 eggs, and chicks are semi-precocial and mobile soon after hatching.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Calls are sharp, nasal yelps and harsh 'kreee' notes, especially during colony interactions. In flight and at feeding sites it gives chattering, mewing, and scolding calls that carry over open water.
Plumage
Breeding adults show a smooth chocolate-brown hood, pale grey mantle, white underparts, and blackish outer primaries with white mirrors; non-breeding birds lose the hood, retaining dark ear-spot smudges. Juveniles are mottled brown with scaly upperparts and develop the adult pattern over successive molts.
Diet
An opportunistic omnivore, it feeds on aquatic and terrestrial insects, small fish, crustaceans, and worms. During breeding it takes many flying insects over lakes and picks invertebrates from shorelines. In winter it scavenges fish scraps, offal, and human food waste, and may pirate food from other birds.
Preferred Environment
Forages along lake edges, mudflats, estuaries, and sandy beaches, often in mixed flocks. It also follows fishing boats, visits harbors, and works agricultural fields after ploughing to seize exposed invertebrates.
