The Mediterranean gull is a small gull. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. The genus Ichthyaetus is from ikhthus, "fish", and aetos, "eagle", and the specific melanocephalus is from melas, "black", and -kephalos "-headed".
Region
Mediterranean Basin, Black Sea, and Western Europe
Typical Environment
Breeds around coastal lagoons, deltas, and wetlands bordering the Mediterranean and Black Sea, with colonies also at inland lakes and marshes. In non-breeding season it disperses along Atlantic coasts to Western and Northwestern Europe and winters around the Mediterranean and North Africa. It readily uses human-modified habitats such as saltpans, reservoirs, and agricultural fields near water. Roosts occur on sandbars, islets, and sheltered shorelines.
Altitude Range
0–1500 m
Climate Zone
Temperate
Ease of Keeping
Beginner friendly: 1/5
The Mediterranean gull is a small to medium-sized gull distinguished by its clean white wingtips, unlike the similar black-headed gull. Its genus name Ichthyaetus combines Greek for fish and eagle, and the species name melanocephalus means black-headed. Populations have expanded rapidly from the Black Sea and Mediterranean into Western and Northern Europe over recent decades. In breeding plumage, the full black hood and bright red bill and legs are key identification features.
Eggs, Collection Museum Wiesbaden
Temperament
social and active
Flight Pattern
buoyant flier with steady wingbeats; capable of agile soaring and gliding
Social Behavior
Strongly colonial nester, often forming dense mixed colonies with other gulls or terns on islands and marsh edges. Pairs are generally monogamous for a season and both parents incubate and feed chicks. Outside the breeding season it gathers in large flocks at feeding and roosting sites.
Migratory Pattern
Seasonal migrant
Song Description
Calls are loud, nasal, and mewing, often rendered as a drawn-out yaa or kree-ar. Display calls are sharper and more insistent within colonies. Overall voice is harsher and deeper than the black-headed gull.
Plumage
In breeding season, adults are bright white with a pale grey back, pure white wingtips, and a solid black hood; non-breeding birds show a white head with a dark ear patch. Juveniles have mottled brown tones that quickly fade to pale grey and white as they age. The feathers appear smooth and clean with little to no black in the wing pattern.
Diet
An opportunistic omnivore that takes small fish, marine invertebrates, insects, earthworms, and crustaceans. It also consumes grain, offal, and food waste where available. During breeding it often targets insect swarms over wetlands and fields, and will kleptoparasitize other birds occasionally.
Preferred Environment
Feeds along shorelines, estuaries, and tidal flats, as well as inland at lakes, rivers, and flooded fields. Regularly forages over ploughed farmland, landfill sites, and harbors.
