Mew Gull
The Mew Gull is a small species of migratory "white-headed" larus gull that is found across large parts of Europe and Asia. There is also a population in the far northwestern part of North America. It is known as the Common Gull outside of North America. An Asian subspecies is called the Kamchatka Gull
Mew Gulls nest on the ground or in trees (nesting in trees is fairly unusual in gulls). They breed in colonial groups, usually near water. Mew Gulls take three years to reach full maturity.
Mew Gulls are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders. They have a wide variety in diet, taking prey like worms, small fish, and insects. They also dine on grain and other vegetation, and will scavenge from discarded rubbish.
Details & Statistics
- Least Concern (LC)
- Near Threatened (NT)
- Vulnerable (VU)
- Endangered (EN)
- Critically Endangered (CR)
- Extinct in the Wild (EW)
- Extinct (EX)
Conservation
The Mew Gull is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List and was last assessed in 2015 by BirdLife International. This species has an extremely large range, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the range size criterion (Extent of Occurrence <20,000 km2 combined with a declining or fluctuating range size, habitat extent/quality, or population size and a small number of locations or severe fragmentation). The population trend is not known, but the population is not believed to be decreasing sufficiently rapidly to approach the thresholds under the population trend criterion (>30% decline over ten years or three generations). The population size is extremely large, and hence does not approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population size criterion (<10,000 mature individuals with a continuing decline estimated to be >10% in ten years or three generations, or with a specified population structure). For these reasons the species is evaluated as Least Concern.
International Names
