Hybrid large white-headed gulls

• Herring Gull
  Herring Gull
  The European Herring Gull is a large gull , and is the most abundant and best known of all gulls along the shores of western Europe. It breeds across Northern Europe, Western Europe, Scandinavia and the Baltic states...
  
   and Lesser Black-backed Gull
  Lesser Black-backed Gull
  The Lesser Black-backed Gull is a large gull that breeds on the Atlantic coasts of Europe. It is migratory, wintering from the British Isles south to West Africa...
  
   interbreed to a limited degree where their ranges overlap, producing birds of intermediate appearance, which could be confused with Yellow-legged Gull
  Yellow-legged Gull
  The Yellow-legged Gull , sometimes referred to as Western Yellow-legged Gull , is a large gull of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, which has only recently achieved wide recognition as a distinct species...
  
  s.

• Western Gull
  Western Gull
  The Western Gull, Larus occidentalis, is a large white-headed gull that lives on the western coast of North America. It was previously considered conspecific, the same species, with the Yellow-footed Gull of the Gulf of California...
  
   and Glaucous-winged Gull
  Glaucous-winged Gull
  The Glaucous-winged Gull, Larus glaucescens, is a large, white-headed gull residing from the western coast of Alaska to the coast of Washington. It also breeds on the northwest coast of Alaska. During non-breeding seasons they can be found along the coast of California...
  
   hybridise extensively in western North America
  North America
  North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
  
  . Evidence of genetic influence of each upon the other is found throughout the range of both species.

Hybrids among the small hooded gulls

• The most common hybrid found among gulls in Europe
  Europe
  Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
  
   is between Black-headed Gull
  Black-headed Gull
  The Black-headed Gull is a small gull which breeds in much of Europe and Asia, and also in coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident...
  
   and Mediterranean Gull
  Mediterranean Gull
  The Mediterranean Gull, Ichthyaetus melanocephalus, is a small gull which breeds almost entirely in Europe, mainly in the south east, especially around the Black Sea, and in central Turkey. There are colonies elsewhere in southern Europe, and this species has undergone a dramatic range expansion in...
  
  . Hybrids of this combination are occasionally reported on the northwestern edge of the breeding range of Mediterranean Gull.

• Birds have also been reported in Europe which have been suspected of being Mediterranean Gull × Common Gull
  Common Gull
  The Common Gull or Mew Gull Larus canus is a medium-sized gull which breeds in northern Asia, northern Europe and northwestern North America. It migrates further south in winter...
  
   hybrids; one such bird gull seen in Lincolnshire
  Lincolnshire
  Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
  
   in 2002 (Tarrant 2002)

• A bird seen in December 2001 at Belhaven Bay, Lothian
  Lothian
  Lothian forms a traditional region of Scotland, lying between the southern shore of the Firth of Forth and the Lammermuir Hills....
  
  , and present each winter since (until at least 2005/6) is believed to be a hybrid between Black-headed and Common Gulls (Gillon 2006)

External links

• An article about hybrid gulls breeding in Belgium

Bird Hybrids Database

• Bird Hybrids Database