Little gull

The little gull was first formally described as Larus minutus in 1776 by the German ornithologist Peter Simon Pallas with its type locality given as Berezovo, Tobolsk in Siberia. In 1829, Johann Jakob Kaup proposed the genus Hydrocoloeus for this species, and George Robert Gray later formally designated Larus minutus as the type species of the genus.{{cite book |title=Checklist of North American Birds |edition=6 |author=American Ornithologists' Union (AOU) |year=1983 |pages=212–223 |publisher=The Union |isbn=9780943610320 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/107977#page/247/mode/1up}} Kaup had also included Larus plumbiceps Meyer, 1822 in his genus Hydrocoloeus; this is a synonym of Chroicocephalus cirrocephalus (grey-headed gull).{{cite web | last=Wilms | first=Herman | title=Hydrocoloeus | website=www.wnve.nl | url=https://www.wnve.nl/nl/genus/383-g-hydrocoloeus | language=nl | access-date=2025-03-24}} Hydrocoloeus minutus is the binomial accepted for this species and it is classified in the family Laridae, the gulls and terns, in the order Charadriiformes.{{cite web |url=https://www.worldbirdnames.org/new/bow/gulls/ |title=Noddies, skimmers, gulls, terns, skuas, auks |access-date=15 August 2023 |work=IOC World Bird List v13.2 |publisher=International Ornithologists' Union |editor1=Frank Gill |editor2=David Donsker |editor3=Pamela Rasmussen |name-list-style=&}}

Within the Laridae, its closest relative is Ross's gull Rhodostethia rosea;{{cite journal | last=Černý | first=David | last2=Natale | first2=Rossy | title=Comprehensive taxon sampling and vetted fossils help clarify the time tree of shorebirds (Aves, Charadriiformes) | journal=Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution | volume=177 | date=2022 | doi=10.1016/j.ympev.2022.107620 | doi-access=free | page=107620 | url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2021/07/16/2021.07.15.452585.full.pdf | access-date=2025-03-24}} some authors have even included Ross's gull in Hydrocoloeus rather than giving it its own genus,{{cite web | last=Römhild | first=Markus | title=Der Erstnachweis der Rosenmöwe Hydrocoloeus roseus für Bayern | url=https://www.zobodat.at/pdf/Avifaunistik-Bayern_4_0011-0014.pdf | access-date=2025-03-24}} but this has not been accepted by any of the major ornithological authorities.

The genus name Hydrocoloeus means "water jackdaw", from Ancient Greek {{Transliteration|el|hydro}}, water, and {{Transliteration|el|koloios}}, a jackdaw; Kaup, in naming the genus, compared the little gull to other gulls as he then went on to compare his new genus Coloeus for jackdaws to crows;{{cite book | last=Kaup | first=J. J. | title=Skizzirte Entwickelungs-Geschichte und natürliches System der europäischen Thierwelt : Erster Theil welcher die Vogelsäugethiere und Vögel nebst Andeutung der Entstehung der letzteren aus Amphibien enthält | publisher=In commission bei Carl Wilhelm Leske | publication-place=Darmstadt | year=1829 | doi=10.5962/bhl.title.63915 | doi-access=free | url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/itempdf/129856 | access-date=2025-03-24 | pages=113–114}} Kaup had a personal theory of equivalence between members of different groups of birds based on their relative sizes. The specific {{lang|la|minutus}} is Latin for "small".{{cite book | last= Jobling | first= James A | year= 2010| title= The Helm Dictionary of Scientific Bird Names | url= https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling | publisher= Christopher Helm | location = London | isbn = 978-1-4081-2501-4 | pages= [https://archive.org/details/Helm_Dictionary_of_Scientific_Bird_Names_by_James_A._Jobling/page/n196 196], 256}}

The little gull has a body length of {{cvt|24|to|28|cm}} and a wing span of {{cvt|62|to|69|cm}},{{cite book |author1=Lars Svensson |author2=Killian Mullarney |author3=Dan Zetterström |year=2023 |title=Collins Bird Guide |edition=3 |pages=196–197 |isbn=9780008547455 |publisher=William Collins}} making it the smallest gull species in the world.{{cite web |url=https://ebird.org/species/litgul |title=Little Gull |access-date=15 August 2023 |publisher=eBird}} The adults in breeding plumage have a black hood, dark red bill, bright red legs, and sometimes a rosy flush to the underside. In non-breeding plumage the adults have a black cap and spot on the ear, white underparts, a black bill and the red on the legs is duller. In all plumages the adults have a pale grey back and upperwings with white primaries contrasting with very dark grey underwing. The juveniles have large areas of blackish colour on the back and head and in flight they have a dark "w" pattern on the upperwings with white underwings. By their first winter the head and body are similar to those of an adult but the upperwing pattern is retained. By their second year they have become very similar to the adults but have some black primary feathers.

The little gull has a wide Palearctic distribution breeding from northern Scandinavia and the eastern Baltic Sea to eastern Siberia. They also breed in North America around the Great Lakes. It is a migratory species which winters along the coasts of Europe as far south as the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas.{{cite web | publisher= BirdLife International |year=2023 |title=Species factsheet: Hydrocoloeus minutus |url=http://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/little-gull-hydrocoloeus-minutus |access-date=15 August 2023}} They are uncommon in the western Pacific.{{cite book |author=Mark Brazil |year=2009 |title=Birds of East Asia China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan and Russia |page=214 |publisher=Princeton |isbn=9780691139265}} In North America they winter along the Atlantic coasts in small numbers, as far south as the Carolinas.{{cite book | last1=Potter | first1=Eloise F. | last2=Parnell | first2=James F. | last3=Teulings | first3=Robert P. | last4=Davis | first4=Ricky | title=Birds of the Carolinas | publisher=UNC Press Books | date=2015-12-01 | isbn=978-1-4696-2565-2}} In the early 21st Century non-breeding birds have summered in western Europe in increasing numbers and in 2016 they successfully nested for the first time in Great Britain at the RSPB reserve at Loch of Strathbeg reserve in Aberdeenshire;{{cite web | url = http://www.rarebirdalert.co.uk/v2/Content/RSPB_Worlds_smallest_gull_breed_in_Scotland_for_the_first_time.aspx?s_id=886794278 | title = World's smallest gull breeding in Scotland for the first time | access-date = 6 August 2017 | publisher = Rare Bird Alert}} they returned for a few days in May 2017, but did not breed again.{{cite journal |last1=Holling |first1=Mark |title=Rare breeding birds in the UK in 2017 |journal=British Birds |date=2019 |volume=112 |issue=12 |page=737 }}

The little gull nests in areas of dense vegetation where there are emergent or plants with floating leaves in shallow freshwater bodies, slow-moving rivers, marshes and bogs, occasionally using costal lagoons or other brackish water habitats. When it is migrating this species is coastal but may be found inland in some conditions. They also winter on the coast where there are sand and mud substrates and at river mouths and even out to sea. They may be attracted to sewage outfalls.

The little gull is a migratory species with separate breeding and wintering ranges. They typically arrive at their breeding areas from late-April up to late May and start to move away from the breeding areas from the middle of July. Laying eggs begins in mid-June and they commonly nest among other species of gull and tern to form mixed colonies, although some pairs will nest singly away from colonies. Away from the breeding areas this is a sociable species and feeds and loafs in flocks. These flocks can be very large and may number of thousands of birds if bad weather forces them into sheltered waters. The nests are situated on the ground or on the water, floating on leaves and fixed to emergent vegetation and are spaced at distances of {{cvt|1|to|1.5|m}} from each other in colonies.

Breeding birds are insectivores and feed on a variety of insects caught on the wing close to the water and in winter the diet is dominated by small fish and marine invertebrates.

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

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Hydrocoloeus minutus}}

{{Wikispecies|Hydrocoloeus minutus}}

• {{BirdLife|22694469|Hydrocoloeus minutus}}
• {{Avibase|name=Hydrocoloeus minutus}}
• {{InternetBirdCollection|little-gull-larus-minutus}}
• {{VIREO|little+gull}}
• {{IUCN_Map|22694469/166278859|Hydrocoloeus minutus}}
• {{Xeno-canto species|Hydrocoloeus|minutus|Little gull}}
• {{field guide birds of the world|Hydrocoloeus minutus}}

{{Gulls}}

{{Charadriiformes|L.|state=collapsed}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q164467}}

Category:Gulls

Category:Holarctic birds

Category:Birds described in 1776

Category:Taxa named by Peter Simon Pallas