Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~10%
Pallas's gull (Ichthyaetus ichthyaetus), also known as the great black-headed gull, is a large bird species. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus. The scientific name is from Ancient Greek. Ichthyaetus is from ikhthus, "fish", and aetos, "eagle".
This species breeds in colonies in marshes and islands from southern Russia to Mongolia. It is migratory, wintering in the eastern Mediterranean, Arabia and India. This gull nests on the ground, laying between two and four eggs.
It occurs in western Europe only as a vagrant. In Great Britain a recent review left a single occurrence in 1859 as the only acceptable record of this bird. The species also occurs as a vagrant in differing parts of the Indian Ocean, south of its normal range, and along the northern and eastern coasts of Africa, where it visits annually on an irregular basis.
This is a very large gull, being easily the world's largest black-headed gull and the third largest species of gull in the world, after the great black-backed gull and the glaucous gull. It measures 55–72 cm (22–28 in) in length with a 142 to 170 cm (56 to 67 in) wingspan. Weight... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chitwan National Park | 🇳🇵 Nepal | |
| 2 | Ranthambore National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 3 | Sundarbans National Park | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 4 | Keoladeo National Park | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lanzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 2 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 3 | Kuwait City | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | |
| 4 | Jaipur | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 5 | Yekaterinburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 6 | Tel Aviv | 🇮🇱 Israel | |
| 7 | Agra | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 8 | Ponnani | 🇮🇳 India | |
| 9 | Abu Dhabi | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | |
| 10 | Kochi | 🇮🇳 India |
| # | Zoo / Centre | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Moscow Zoo | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | 西宁野生动物园 | 🇨🇳 China |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Pallas's Gull sighting in Abu Dhabi on a given day, based on 19 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 113th most-seen of the 159 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.
February and March
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Pallas's Gull in Abu Dhabi on a given day, against under 5% in April to January, the lowest months.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Pallas's Gull sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
9th of 17
Of the 17 cities where we can rate Pallas's Gull sightings, Abu Dhabi ranks 9th at under 5%. The best odds are in Lanzhou (China, about 40%), Novosibirsk (Russia, about 10%) and Kuwait City (Kuwait, about 10%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Pallas's Gull that you can see in Abu Dhabi (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Black-headed Gull (about 30%), Lesser Black-backed Gull (about 10%) and White-cheeked Tern (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Pallas's Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Abu Dhabi (19 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
