Friday's Foto

The Black-headed Gull is a rare, but regular visitor to coastal New York City and Long Island. The most abundant gull across Europe and Asia, flocks can typically be found scavenging in parks. They nest along bogs, coastal marshes, grasslands, lakes and rivers. Around coastal Brooklyn they are primarily found associating with large flocks of Bonaparte's Gulls. First recorded in North America in the 1920s, a pair was found nesting in Newfoundland in 1977. The IUCN lists this specie's conservation status as "Least Concern". Its scientific name, Chroicocephalus ridibundus, means "stain headed", "laughing". In breeding plumage, this gull's dark hood is actually not black, but dark brown.