Black-headed Gull
Chroicocephalus ridibundus
Hættemågen er Danmarks mest almindelige måge. Den er endvidere udbredt i resten af Europa, Asien og i kystegne i det østlige Canada.
Small, light gull with a red bill and legs. A chocolate-brown hood in breeding dress (looks black at range); in winter a white head with a dark ear spot. The best year-round mark is the white leading edge of the outer wing.
Can be confused with
- Common Gull — Common Gull is larger with a yellow-green bill and legs, lacks the hood and white leading edge, and shows black wingtips with big white "mirrors" instead.
Plumage and variation
Summer and winter: The hood is worn only in the breeding season (roughly March–July); winter birds have a white head with a dark spot behind the eye.
Juvenile: Juvenile is mottled brown with a black tail band; first-winter shows a grey back with a brown carpal bar.
Voice
Noisy; the typical call is a grating "kree-ar", deafening in the colonies.
Behaviour
Highly gregarious year-round and rarely far out to sea. An omnivorous opportunist — insects, small fish, worms and scraps — readily following the plough.
When and where
Denmark’s commonest gull and a protected but red-listed breeder: colonies can hold up to 25,000 birds, but numbers have fallen steeply from around 400,000 pairs in the 1960s. Many move south from July.
Facts
Wingspan
97 cm
Conservation status
ikke truet
Relatives
Family
gulls and terns
Laridae
Order
waders, gulls and auks
Charadriiformes
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