- Animals
- ›Chordates
- ›Vertebrates
- ›Birds
- ›Shorebirds and Allies
- ›Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers
- ›Gulls
- ›Saundersilarus
On eBird ↗
Saunders's Gull
Live sightings near you, the range map, bar charts of when it is seen, and Macaulay Library photos and recordings.
Saunders's Gull
Saundersilarus saundersi
Saunders's gull (Saundersilarus saundersi) or Chinese black-headed gull, is a species of gull in the family Laridae. It is found in China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Macau, Russia, Taiwan, and Vietnam. Its natural habitats are estuarine waters and intertidal marshes. As with many other gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus, but based on phylogenetic work some have moved it to Chroicocephalus, while others argue it is sufficiently distinct for placement in the monotypic Saundersilarus. In 2023, this transfer was accepted by the International Ornithologists' Union.
It is threatened by habitat loss, particularly by conversion of saltmarsh to agricultural land or fish farms, and industrial development including oil extraction. One of its few remaining strongholds are the Yancheng Coastal Wetlands, which hosts about 20% of the world's population.
From the article Saunders's gull on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
Description
This is a very small species of gull with a length of just 33 cm (13 in) and, among gulls, only the little gull is smaller. Adults have a black hood and nape during the breeding season. It is very pale with a white body and tail, pale grey wings. Non-breeding birds have a mottled grey hood and nape, and white-tipped wings with black markings on the primaries. Immatures are distinguished by having a narrow black tail band and some dark mottling on the upperwing. The legs are dark red-brown, and the short bill is black; the body is squat.
Range & habitat
Saunders's gull breeds in eastern China and the west coast of Korea. It breeds in saltmarshes dominated by the Suaeda species Suaeda glauca. It overwinters in southern China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, South Korea, southwestern Japan and Vietnam. Its winter habitats are estuaries and aquaculture ponds and some populations move inland to lakes and marshes.
Wikipedia: “Distribution and habitat”
Listen
Looking for field recordings…
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
—
geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Saundersilarus saundersi in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 144500.