Hydrocoloeus minutus
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The little gull (Hydrocoloeus minutus) is a species of gull belonging to the family Laridae which is mainly found in the Palearctic with some small colonies in North America. It breeds on freshwater lakes and marshes, and spends winters at sea. It is the smallest species of gull in the world, and the only species in the monospecific genus Hydrocoloeus.
The little gull was first formally described as Larus minutus in 1776 by the German ornithologist Peter Simon Pallas with its type locality given as Berezovo, Tobolsk in Siberia. In 1829, Johann Jakob Kaup proposed the genus Hydrocoloeus for this species, and George Robert Gray later formally designated Larus minutus as the type species of the genus. Kaup had also included Larus plumbiceps Meyer, 1822 in his genus Hydrocoloeus; this is a synonym of Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus (grey-headed gull). Hydrocoloeus minutus is the binomial accepted for this species and it is classified in the family Laridae, the gulls and terns, in the order Charadriiformes.
Within the Laridae, its closest relative is Ross's gull Rhodostethia rosea; some authors have even included Ross's gull in Hydrocoloeus rather than giving it its own genus... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hortobágy National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 2 | Kiskunság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 3 | Fertő-Hanság National Park | 🇭🇺 Hungary | |
| 4 | Wadden Sea National Park | 🇩🇪 Germany | |
| 5 | Point Pelee National Park | 🇨🇦 Canada | |
| 6 | Camargue | 🇫🇷 France | |
| 7 | Biebrza National Park | 🇵🇱 Poland | |
| 8 | Doñana National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain | |
| 9 | Sierra de Guadarrama National Park | 🇪🇸 Spain |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novosibirsk | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 2 | Liverpool | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | |
| 3 | Kunming | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 4 | Helsinki | 🇫🇮 Finland | |
| 5 | Turin | 🇮🇹 Italy | |
| 6 | Saint Petersburg | 🇷🇺 Russia | |
| 7 | Rotterdam [The Hague] | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | |
| 8 | Istanbul | 🇹🇷 Turkey | |
| 9 | Minsk | 🇧🇾 Belarus | |
| 10 | Warsaw | 🇵🇱 Poland |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Gull sighting in London on a given day, based on 135 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 137th most-seen of the 203 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Little Gull in London on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 1 and 4 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Little 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.
16th of 23
Of the 23 cities where we can rate Little Gull sightings, London ranks 16th at under 5%. The best odds are in Novosibirsk (Russia, about 10%), Liverpool (United Kingdom, about 10%) and Kunming (China, under 5%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Little Gull that you can see in London (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Black-headed Gull (about 60%), European Herring Gull (about 60%) and Lesser Black-backed Gull (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Little Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in London (135 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.
