Yellow-legged Gull

Yellow-legged Gull

Larus michahellis

Silhouette: Sharon Wegner-Larsen · PhyloPic

LCLeast ConcernNTVUENCR
Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Pyrénées National Park

In 3 days ~10%

72 Verified sightings at Pyrénées National Park From 2019 to 2026
3,809 In all 12 parks
March Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Yellow-legged Gull

The yellow-legged gull or western yellow-legged gull (Larus michahellis) is a large gull found in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species. It was formerly treated as a subspecies of either the Caspian gull L. cachinnans, or more broadly as a subspecies of the herring gull L. argentatus.

The genus name is from Latin Larus which appears to have referred to a gull or other large seabird, and the species name honours the German zoologist Karl Michahelles. It is now generally accepted that the yellow-legged gull is a full species, but until recently there was much disagreement. For example, British Birds magazine split the yellow-legged gull from the herring gull in 1993 but included the Caspian gull in the former, but the BOU in Great Britain retained the yellow-legged gull as a subspecies of the herring gull until 2007. DNA research, however, suggests that the yellow-legged gull is actually closest to the great black-backed gull L. marinus and the Armenian gull L. armenicus, while the Caspian gull is closer to the herring gull and the lesser black-backed gull L. fuscus, rather than being each... Wikipedia →

Sounds

Call0:17

Italy · 2026

© Francesco Sottile · XC1181929 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Alarm call0:21

France · 2026

© Thierry THOMAS · XC1093152 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Nocturnal flight call0:43

France · 2025

© Greg P · XC980189 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Camargue 🇫🇷 France
~70%
2 Doñana National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
~30%
3 Fertő-Hanság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~30%
4 Hortobágy National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~20%
5 Bavarian Forest National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
~20%
6 Triglav National Park 🇸🇮 Slovenia
~10%
7 Kiskunság National Park 🇭🇺 Hungary
~10%
8 Cévennes National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
9 Sierra de Guadarrama National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%
10 Pyrénées National Park 🇫🇷 France
<5%
11 Wadden Sea National Park 🇩🇪 Germany
<5%
12 Monfragüe National Park 🇪🇸 Spain
<5%

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Tangier 🇲🇦 Morocco
>90%
2 Rome 🇮🇹 Italy
~90%
3 Naples 🇮🇹 Italy
~90%
4 Istanbul 🇹🇷 Turkey
~90%
5 Izmir 🇹🇷 Turkey
~80%
6 Porto 🇵🇹 Portugal
~80%
7 Casablanca 🇲🇦 Morocco
~70%
8 Athens 🇬🇷 Greece
~70%
9 Algiers 🇩🇿 Algeria
~70%
10 Barcelona 🇪🇸 Spain
~70%

Zoos & Centres Where Found

# Zoo / Centre Country
1 Zoorasia 🇯🇵 Japan In captivity
2 bioparco 🇮🇹 Italy In captivity

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Yellow-legged Gull in Pyrénées National Park?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-legged Gull sighting in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, based on 72 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 106th most-seen of the 174 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, if each day is a fresh chance.

When is the best time to see a Yellow-legged Gull in Pyrénées National Park?

March

In that month about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Yellow-legged Gull in Pyrénées National Park on a given day, against under 5% in April to February, the lowest months.

What time of day is best to see a Yellow-legged Gull?

Between 8 and 11 am

Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Yellow-legged Gull sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.

Where does the Yellow-legged Gull sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Yellow-legged Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Pyrénées National Park (72 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.

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