Lesser Black-backed Gull
Larus fuscus
A large gull with a dark back and yellow legs. Confirmed in Georgia on the 2024 national bird checklist as a passage migrant and a winter visitor; not treated as a breeding bird.
At a glance
Key facts in one look
Diet
Opportunistic omnivore
Status in Georgia
Migrant and winter visitor
Size
52–64 cm
Habitat
Coast, wetland, harbour
Family
Laridae
Conservation
LC
Human interaction: It is not venomous and is not a threat to people. The bill is strong — do not feed birds at refuse or in harbours, and do not handle them. It does not breed in Georgia, so rooftop-colony conflict is not documented here. Leave wild birds alone.
Overview
What is Lesser Black-backed Gull
The lesser black-backed gull (Larus fuscus) is a large gull in the family Laridae, with a dark mantle and yellow legs. The usual Georgian name is ფრთაშავი თოლია; checklists also use შავზურგა თოლია. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia treats two taxa: Baltic Gull (Larus fuscus fuscus), coded M; WV — a passage migrant and winter visitor — and Heuglin’s Gull (Larus (fuscus) heuglini), coded WV — a winter visitor. Seasonality is classed as high-quality (code A) for both. Occurrence quality is high (H), with photograph evidence. Neither taxon has a breeding code (BB or YR-R). Adults are about 52–64 cm long at species level. It is not a threat to people. IUCN lists the species as Least Concern. The 2024 checklist assigns the same category globally and nationally. It is not on Georgia’s 2014 Red List.
Last updated
Gallery
Lesser Black-backed Gull in photos
Photo: Diego Delso
Cádiz ·
Photo: Charles J. Sharp
Souss-Massa National Park ·
Photo: Arild Vågen
Finnboda, Nacka ·
Photo: Bardrock
Burntisland ·
Photo: Mike Prince
Identification
How to identify Lesser Black-backed Gull
A large gull with a dark back and yellow legs. In Georgia it is a passage migrant and winter visitor on the 2024 checklist, not a breeder. The usual confusion is with paler large gulls — Caspian, Yellow-legged, and Armenian.
- 01
Length about 52–64 cm at species level; wingspan often about 117–150 cm; mass often about 0.5–1.1 kg. Nominate L. f. fuscus averages slightly slimmer. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page. Adults have a white head and underparts; the back and upperwing are dark grey to almost black — fuscus is darkest, graellsii more slate-grey, heuglini intermediate. Legs are yellow. The bill is yellow with a red gonys spot. In winter the head may show grey streaking. Females average slightly smaller than males; sex is not reliably told by size in the field.
- 02
Young birds are mottled brown and resemble first-year birds of other large gulls; species-level identification from a single photo is often hard. Adult plumage is usually complete in the fourth calendar year. Subspecies identification in Georgia is realistic only on a well-marked adult: mantle shade, wing-tip mirrors, and structure. Many winter records should stay at the species complex.
- 03
Caspian Gull (Larus cachinnans) is YR-R; M; WV on the 2024 checklist — a pale grey back, a long slim bill, often pale legs, not a dark mantle. Yellow-legged Gull (Larus michahellis) is YR-R; M; WV — also yellow legs, but a much paler back. Armenian Gull (Larus armenicus) is YR-R; M; WV — pale grey, often with a dark bill band in winter; Javakheti holds a large breeding colony, not of this species. Common Gull (Larus canus) is M; WV — noticeably smaller, with a slimmer bill. Great Black-backed Gull (Larus marinus) is ND on the checklist (poor documentation): much larger, with pink legs. This atlas does not yet have separate pages for those similar species.
- 04
Harmless. In Georgia in winter or on passage, a large gull with a dark back and yellow legs belongs in this complex. A pale grey back with yellow legs is usually Yellow-legged, Caspian, or Armenian — check mantle shade and head shape.
Biology
Habitat, diet, behavior, and conservation
Habitat and range
Look for it on coasts, wetlands, river deltas, harbours, and open water, often with other large gulls. The 2024 checklist confirms country-level migrant and winter-visitor status but does not publish a municipality map. Named Georgian places with published sampling or a site list: the Kolkheti Lowland Wetlands, the Chorokhi River Delta, and the Kura River Valley — Lewis et al. (2013) sampled six gull species, including L. fuscus, in those three areas during the overwintering period. The paper does not publish separate counts for this species at each site, so all three blocks are mapped as winter sampling areas, not as a complete range map. Kolkheti SPA N 17 (the same as IBA GEO04; around Lake Paliastomi, about 0–10 m) lists the species as M, WV on the site checklist. The Chorokhi Delta is in Adjara. The Kura valley crosses several administrative regions and is not coloured as a separate region on this page. Other coasts or inland waters may be used on passage, but this page does not colour them without a compiled gazetteer. This page does not map all of Georgia. A separate elevation belt in metres for Georgia is not published here.
Diet
There is no separate weighed Georgian diet study on this page. At species level it is an opportunistic omnivore: fish, invertebrates, carrion, eggs and chicks of other birds, and refuse at harbours and dumps. That is a general trophic niche, not a weighed Georgian menu.
Behavior
It is active by day. It often stands in loose groups with other gulls. Flight is strong, with long wings; adults have a dark upperwing. The voice is a barking or yelping kraah, like a herring gull but more nasal. The clip is xeno-canto XC983544 (Tanguy Loïs, Brest, France) — not a Georgian recording. It does not breed in Georgia on the 2024 checklist. At species level, adult plumage is usually complete in the fourth calendar year; clutches are often two or three eggs — that is wide-range data, not a Georgian nest sample. Nominate L. f. fuscus migrates on an eastern route from the Baltic toward Ukraine and the Bosporus, then through the eastern Mediterranean toward Africa; that is a satellite-tracked broad corridor, not a route of named Georgian birds. Heuglin’s form winters from the Middle East to East Africa and India. Exact arrival and departure dates for Georgia are not tabled here.
Conservation
BirdLife International lists Larus fuscus as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List; the global range and population are large. The 2024 Georgian checklist assigns LC as both the global and national category — for L. f. fuscus and for heuglini. The species is not read on Georgia’s 2014 Red List (Decree No. 190) among the sources used here. Species-level status does not fully cover the subspecies picture: Baltic nominate L. f. fuscus is Vulnerable (VU) on the HELCOM regional Red List after a long decline; that is the form the 2024 checklist treats as Georgia’s migrant and winter visitor. Western European graellsii / intermedius populations have increased elsewhere. There is no separate national trend for Georgia on this page. Lewis et al. (2013) included the species in winter gull samples during avian-influenza surveillance; that is research context, not a separate national threat assessment. Do not disturb or catch wild birds without a permit.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Short answers to the most important questions about Lesser Black-backed Gull.
Yes. The 2024 annotated checklist of the birds of Georgia confirms it as a passage migrant and winter visitor (M; WV for the nominate; WV for Heuglin’s). It is not treated as a breeder.
On coasts and wetlands, especially in autumn and winter. Named published places are the Kolkheti Lowland Wetlands (SPA N 17, around Paliastomi), the Chorokhi Delta, and the Kura valley winter sampling area. This page does not map every region.
Adults have a dark back and upperwing, yellow legs, and a yellow bill with a red spot. Caspian, Yellow-legged, and Armenian gulls have much paler backs. Young birds are mottled brown and resemble other large gulls.
About 52–64 cm long at species level; wingspan often about 117–150 cm, mass about 0.5–1.1 kg. There is no separate measured Georgian series on this page.
Opportunistically: fish, invertebrates, carrion, and available refuse. There is no separate Georgian diet study on this page.
On passage and in winter, according to the 2024 checklist. Heuglin’s form is coded only as a winter visitor. Exact arrival and departure dates are not tabled here. A summer breeding population is not confirmed in the country.
No, on the sources used here. Neither L. f. fuscus nor heuglini has BB or YR-R on the 2024 checklist. The large gull colony in Javakheti belongs to Armenian Gull.
It is harmless. It is Least Concern globally and LC nationally on the 2024 checklist. It is not on the 2014 Red List. The Baltic nominate is regionally Vulnerable; that is not Georgia’s legal status. Do not disturb wild birds.
- Budagashvili & Javakhishvili 2024 — The birds of Georgia (Sandgrouse 46)
- SABUKO — Bird checklist
- Ilia State University — SPA bird checklist
- Ilia State University — SPA N 17 Kolkheti
- Lewis et al. 2013 — Avian Influenza Virus Surveillance in Wild Birds in Georgia (PLOS ONE)
- BirdLife DataZone — Lesser Black-backed Gull
- IUCN Red List — Larus fuscus
- HELCOM Red List — Larus fuscus fuscus
- IOC World Bird List
- Avibase — Georgia bird checklist
- საქართველოს მთავრობის დადგენილება №190 (2014) — წითელი ნუსხა
- Birds of the World — Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus)
- RSPB — Lesser Black-backed Gull
- Pütz, Helbig, Pederson & Rahbek 2007 — satellite tracking of first-year L. fuscus
- Wikimedia Commons — Cádiz (Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — graellsii in flight, Souss-Massa (Charles J. Sharp, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — L. f. fuscus, Finnboda (Arild Vågen, CC BY-SA 3.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — juvenile, Burntisland (Bardrock, CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Wikimedia Commons — Heuglin's Gull (Mike Prince, CC BY 2.0)
- xeno-canto XC983544 — Larus fuscus (Tanguy Loïs, CC BY-SA 4.0)
Species profiles are compiled from peer-reviewed literature and established biodiversity databases, and are reviewed as new taxonomic and conservation data become available.
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