Chroicocephalus genei
The Slender-billed Gull (*Chroicocephalus genei*) is an elegant medium-sized gull, typically measuring 37-40 cm in length with a wingspan of 88-102 cm and weighing between 220-330g. Its most striking feature is a remarkably long, fine, dark red bill, complemented by dark red legs and a pale, often whitish iris that gives it a distinctive "soft-eyed" or gentle expression. Upperparts are a very pale, almost pearly grey, contrasting with pristine white underparts and primary wingtips that are la...
Primarily found in coastal lagoons, estuaries, deltas, salt marshes, and shallow marine waters, almost exclusively at low elevations. It occasionally utilizes large inland saline lakes and wetlands for breeding and wintering.
Consists mainly of small fish, marine invertebrates such as crabs, worms, and mollusks, and insects, often captured by surface-dipping or probing in shallow water and mud.
Slender-billed Gulls are highly social and diurnal, often forming large, conspicuous flocks for foraging and communal roosting on sandbars, beaches, or shallow water bodies. Their foraging strategy involves graceful surface-dipping for small fish and invertebrates, or probing soft mudflats with t...
The Slender-billed Gull exhibits a broad but disjunct distribution across the Palearctic. Its primary breeding range extends from the Mediterranean Basin across the Black Sea and Caspian Sea regions, eastward through Central Asia into Pakistan and occasionally northwest India. Key breeding concen...
Least Concern
- The Slender-billed Gull's species name, *genei*, honors Italian naturalist Carlo Giuseppe Gené (1780-1847). - Unlike many other gulls in its genus, it retains a white head year-round, lacking the dark hood seen in its close relatives like the Black-headed Gull. - Its pale, almost whitish iris g...