Relict Gull

Ichthyaetus relictus (Lönnberg, 1931)

≈49 cmLength490 gWeight

It is a gull with a black hood, broad white crescents above and below the rear of the eye, and a scarlet bill in the breeding season.

Busiest months: May · Most records: China, Mongolia, South Korea

How to identify

Field marks

Black hood includes nape in the breeding season; forehead gray-brown
Broad white crescents behind, above and below the eye in the breeding season
Bill scarlet in the breeding season
Dark patches on ear-coverts and rear of head in winter plumage

Where and when it's recorded

Busiest months: May · Most records: China, Mongolia, South Korea

Relict Gull has been recorded at 130 of the 8,276 birding hotspots we track, in 3 countries and regions.

Records by month Northern Hemisphere

To protect this bird from disturbance, we don't list exact sites.

Countries and regions with the most records

China Mongolia South Korea

eBird records via GBIF up to 2024-12-31. A record means someone listed it; more records partly mean more birders, not more birds.

About

The relict gull or Central Asian gull (Ichthyaetus relictus) is a medium-sized gull. It was believed to be an eastern race of the Mediterranean gull until 1971 and was traditionally placed in the genus Larus.

Excerpt from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0 · authors · Read more on Wikipedia

Questions

How big is the Relict Gull?

The Relict Gull is about ≈49 cm long and weighs around 490 g.

Where does the Relict Gull live?

Its breeding range: Palearctic: lakes of northeastern Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Inner Mongolia and Shaanxi (north-central China) and Transbaikalia (southeastern Russia). It is most often recorded in China, Mongolia and South Korea.