Archipelago Wildlife Library

The calls of Larus cachinnans are loud deep yelps such as “kyow” and “kee-yow-yow”, and are deeper and more nasal than the Herring Gull’s and more similar to those of the Black-backed Gull ^{(2) (5)}.

They are social birds, breeding colonially in groups of up to 8,000 pairs, though more commonly in colonies of about 100 ^{(2) (6)}. They can also be found nesting in monospecific clusters within mixed-species colonies ⁽⁶⁾. Outside of the breeding season the species remains gregarious, flocking around harbours, ports, and refuse dumps ⁽⁶⁾. They can be kleptoparasitic, attacking other birds in order to steal their prey ⁽⁷⁾.  The red spot on their beak is a stimulus for chicks to peck at it, which in turn stimulates the parent to regurgitate food for the nestlings to eat ⁽⁸⁾. Their flight is powerful and elegant with shallow wing beats ⁽²⁾.

Outside of the breeding season, Yellow-legged Gulls are common along marine habitats such as coasts, harbours, and ports. They are rarely far from land ⁽⁶⁾. During the breeding season the species nests on sea cliffs, sandy beaches, near lakes, reservoirs, rivers, offshore islands and islets, and pastures ⁽⁶⁾.

Yellow-legged Gulls form breeding colonies from mid-March to May, depending on the region ⁽⁶⁾. Their nests are made from vegetation, feathers, and debris on a cliff ledge, ground, or building. One brood of two or three eggs are laid ^{(2) (6)}.

Larus cachinnanus is a Mediterranean species. The European breeding population of L. cachinnanus is more than 310,000 pairs; the global population is estimated to be 770,000 to 1.8 million individuals ⁽⁶⁾. It is considered native to southern and eastern Europe, northern Africa, the Middle East and Asia Minor ⁽⁶⁾. The species, including all its subspecies, occurs over a range of 5.42 million km^{2 (6)}. They are the most common gulls of Greece, and population estimates for Greece vary from 3000 to 5000 pairs ⁽⁶⁾, to more than 15,000 individuals ⁽⁹⁾.

Mediterranean Yellow-legged Gull populations are sedentary or dispersive ⁽⁵⁾. North eastern populations of Larus cachinnans migrate south to their wintering areas in July to November, returning from mid-February to mid-June ⁽⁶⁾.  In Greece, the number of Yellow-Legged Gulls increases in winter due to immigrants from the Black Sea, eastern Europe and western Asia ⁽⁹⁾.

Yellow-legged Gulls scavenge from refuse dumps, which are a plentiful food source.  They will also take discarded fish from fishing and will predate on the eggs and chicks of other birds ⁽⁶⁾. Foraging in the intertidal zone taking fish, molluscs, crustaceans such as crabs and other invertebrates has also been observed, along with taking insects, invertebrates such as worms, reptiles, and small mammals in cultivated fields ⁽⁶⁾.  The Storm Petrel, (Hydrobates pelagicus), is predated upon by the Yellow-Legged Gull ^{(6) (7)}.

The Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra) has been found to be a rare predator of the Yellow-Legged Gull ⁽¹⁰⁾. It lives in a wide variety of aquatic habitats, from lakes, rivers and marshes to coastal areas ⁽⁶⁾.

Although Larus cachinnanus is listed as a species of Least Concern, the IUCN lists 44 other species of Larus gulls ⁽¹¹⁾. Of these, one species in Europe is considered to be Near Threatened: the Audouin’s Gull (L. audouinii). It is distinguished by its dark grey to greenish legs and red bill with a black band ⁽³⁾. It is threatened by unsustainable fishing, tourism development along coasts, and predation by both terrestrial and aerial predators, such as the Yellow-backed Gull ⁽⁶⁾.

Larus cachinnans populations have exploded over the past 30 years ⁽⁷⁾. It is a bird species that is quick to adapt, and due to its aggressiveness and abundance, it is now considered as a pest in some regions ⁽⁷⁾.  The very large number of Yellow-legged Gulls has had negative impact on local ecosystems, particularly detrimental to endemic, rare and fragile flora and fauna ⁽⁷⁾. This species is culled in some regions of the Mediterranean; this practice has led to decreases in breeding colony size but not to an actual population decrease because the gulls emigrate to another region ⁽⁶⁾.

Description written by Maite Guignard and Adam Millington (2009)

1)      ITIS (2010) Larus cachinnanus Pallas, 1811 [online] Available:

http://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=554270 [date accessed: 25/08/2010]

2)      Hume. R. (2002) RSPB Complete Birds of Britain and Europe, Dorling Kindersley, London

3)      Jonsson. L. (1992) Birds of Europe, Christopher Helm Ltd., London

4)      Knijff. P., Denkers. F., van Swelm. N.D., and Kuiper. M. (1991) Genetic Affinities Within the Herring Gull Larus argentatus Assemblage Revealed by AFLP Genotyping, Journal of Molecular Evolution, 52: 85–93

5)      Mullarney. K., Svensson. L., Zetterstrom. D., and Grant. P.J. (1999) Collins Bird Guide, Harper Collins Publishers, London

6)      Bird Life International (2009) Species factsheet: Larus cachinnans [online] Available: http://www.birdlife.org [date accessed: 21/05/2009]

7)      Vidal. E., Medail. F., and Tatoni. T. (1998) Is the yellow-legged gull a superabundant bird species in the Mediterranean? Impact on fauna and flora, conservation measures and research priorities, Biodiversity and Conservation, 7: 1013-1026

8)      Roberts. M., Reiss. M., and Monger. G. (2000) Advanced biology,  Nelson Thornes, Cheltnam

9)      Handrinos. G., and Akriotis. T. (1997) The Birds of Greece, Christopher Helm Ltd, London

10)  Ruiz-Olmo. J., and Marsol. R. (2002) New Information on the Predation of Fish Eating Birds by the Eurasian Otter (Lutra lutra), IUCN Otter Spec. Group Bull, 19(2): 103 – 106

11)  IUCN (2008) IUCN Red List of Threatened Species [online] Available:

http://www.iucnredlist.org [date accessed: 14/05/2009]