If you spot one that looks like an absolute giant wearing a crisp, dark tuxedo jacket, you have just met the great black-backed gull. This isn’t your average fry-stealing beach bum; this is the undisputed king of the gull world. As the largest species of gull on the planet, it boasts an incredible wingspan that can stretch up to five and a half feet—wider than many adults are tall!
While your everyday coastal gulls are usually a blend of light gray and white with yellowish or green legs, this massive bird instantly stands out. It commands the shoreline with its striking, slate-black upper body, a blindingly white head and chest, pale bubblegum-pink legs, and a thick, heavy bill that looks like it means business. It dwarfs every other bird on the pier, standing tall like a bouncer among a crowd of rowdy teenagers.
What truly separates the great black-backed gull from its smaller, more common cousins isn’t just its massive size, but its incredibly fierce attitude. Most of us think of seagulls as annoying scavengers, happy to dig through trash cans or beg for bread crusts. The great black-backed gull, however, is a top-tier apex predator. Think of it more like an eagle or a hawk trapped in a seagull’s body. Thanks to its incredible strength and sharp, hooked beak, it actively hunts for a living. It can snatch large fish right out of the ocean, hunt small mammals, and is even known to swallow other birds—like puffins or even smaller gulls—whole! When it doesn’t feel like hunting, it simply uses its intimidating size to bully other predators, relentlessly chasing them through the air until they drop their hard-earned catch. It takes no nonsense, yields to absolutely no one, and rules the rugged coasts of the North Atlantic with an iron feather.
Distribution
Algeria
Anguilla
Antigua & Barbuda
Aruba
Austria
Bahamas
Barbados
Belarus
Belgium
Belize
Bermuda
Bonaire Sint Eustatius And Saba
Bosnia And Herz.
Bulgaria
Canada
Croatia
Cuba
Curaçao
Cyprus
Czechia
Denmark
Dominica
Dominican Republic
Egypt
Estonia
Faroe Islands
Finland
France
Germany
Gibraltar
Greece
Greenland
Guadeloupe
Haiti
Hungary
Iceland
India
Iran
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Kazakhstan
Latvia
Lebanon
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Martinique
Mauritania
Montenegro
Montserrat
Morocco
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Puerto Rico
Romania
Russia
Saint Lucia
Saint Pierre
Saint Vincent
Serbia
Sint Maarten
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
St. Kitts & Nevis
Sweden
Switzerland
Syria
Tunisia
Turkey
US Virgin Islands
United Kingdom
United States
VenezuelaAnything we've missed?
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Terrestrial / Aquatic
Altricial / Precocial
Polygamous / Monogamous
Dimorphic (size) / Monomorphic
Active: Diurnal / Nocturnal
Social behavior: Solitary / Pack / Flock
Diet: Carnivore / Herbivore / Omnivore / Piscivorous / Insectivore
Migratory: Yes / No
Domesticated: Yes / No
Dangerous: Yes / No
