Grey-headed Gull

Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

The grey-headed gull spends much of the year on coasts and estuaries in sub-Saharan Africa and also in South America. The grey-headed gull is not a pelagic species, unlike the albatross that appears later in this section, and remains attached to the land. The photograph on the left taken in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, shows the gull in breeding plumage and the one on the right, taken near Maputo, Mozambique, non-breeding plumage.

Feeding

Their diet includes invertebrates and fish but they will also eat carrion and forage in garbage dumps. In some parts of its range it is abundant and  highly gregarious with flocks of thousands gathering to feed.

Breeding

Nesting colonies can also be large. The female builds a nest amongst reeds away from the coast which may be either on land or floating. She lays two or three eggs and both parents incubate and feed the young. Females may lay eggs in the nests of other colony members in order to reduce the burden of chick rearing. This trait is known as "Conspecific Brood Parasitism". In the breeding season it prefers to nest in reedbeds and marshes further inland, similar to its slightly smaller, close relative the black-headed gull.