Black-headed gull

The black-headed gull is a small gull that breeds across much of the Palearctic in Europe and Asia, and also locally in smaller numbers along coastal eastern Canada. Most of the population is migratory and winters further south, although many remain in the milder areas of northwestern Europe. It was formerly sometimes called the common black-headed gull, to distinguish it from the great black-headed gull, an old name for Pallas's gull. Its genus name Chroicocephalus derives from Ancient Greek words for colour and head, and its species name ridibundus is Latin for laughing.