The little gull (''Hydrocoloeus minutus'' or ''Larus minutus''), is a small

gull Gulls, or colloquially seagulls, are seabirds of the family Laridae in the suborder Lari. They are most closely related to the terns and skimmers and only distantly related to auks, and even more distantly to waders. Until the 21st century ...

that breeds in northern

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and across the

Palearctic The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sib ...

. The genus name ''Hydrocoloeus'' is from

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...

, "water", and , a sort of web-footed bird. The specific is

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

for "small". It also has small colonies in parts of southern Canada. It is migratory, wintering on coasts in western Europe, the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and (in small numbers) the northeast United States; in recent years non-breeding birds have summered in western Europe in increasing numbers and in 2016 they successfully nested for the first time in

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

at the

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) is a charitable organisation registered in England and Wales and in Scotland. It was founded in 1889. It works to promote conservation and protection of birds and the wider environment thro ...

reserve at Loch of Strathbeg reserve in

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially different boundaries. The Aberdeenshire Council area inclu ...

. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

Larus ''Larus'' is a large genus of gulls with worldwide distribution (by far the greatest species diversity is in the Northern Hemisphere). Many of its species are abundant and well-known birds in their ranges. Until about 2005–2007, most gu ...

''. It is the only member of the genus ''Hydrocoloeus'', although it has been suggested that

Ross's gull Ross's gull (''Rhodostethia rosea'') is a small gull, the only species in its genus, although it has been suggested it should be moved to the genus '' Hydrocoloeus'', which otherwise only includes the little gull. This bird is named after the B ...

also should be included in this genus. This species breeds colonially on freshwater marshes, making a lined nest on the ground amongst vegetation. Normally 2–6 eggs are laid. This is the smallest gull species, with a length of , a wingspan of , and a mass of . It is pale grey in breeding plumage with a black hood, dark underwings and often a pinkish flush on the breast. In winter, the head goes white apart from a darker cap and eye-spot. The bill is thin and black and the legs dark red. The flight on rounded wings is somewhat tern-like. Young birds have black markings on the head and upperparts, and "W" pattern across the wings. They take three years to reach maturity. These gulls pick food off the water surface, and will also catch insects in the air like a black tern.

Gallery

File:Larus minutus MWNH 0340.JPG, Egg, Collection Museum Wiesbaden File:Dvärgmås-Larus minutus - Ystad2013.jpg, Adult in winter plumage File:Bird Yyterin lietteet 4.jpg, Juvenile; Yyteri, Pori, Suomi - Finland File:Hydrocoloeus minutus Russia 10.jpg, Adult Breeding plumage File:Hydrocoloeus minutus Russia 06.jpg, Picking food from the water surface

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q164467 Gulls Holarctic birds Birds described in 1776 Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas