The Lesser Black-backed Gull (Larus fuscus) is a dark-backed gull with yellow legs and one of the defining birds of the Baltic Sea. Unlike most other gulls it is a pronounced long-distance migrant. It is a fairly slender gull, some 52–67 cm long with a wingspan of 128–148 cm and a weight of roughly 700–1,200 g, with narrow, pointed wings that give it an elegant flight silhouette. Adults have a dark grey to almost black back — darkest in the northern Baltic form fuscus — a clean white underside, a yellow bill with a red spot, and yellow legs. Young birds are mottled brown and trickier to identify, not reaching full adult plumage until around four years old; the species is often easiest to pick out standing alongside Herring Gulls, when the darker back and yellow legs stand out clearly. The call is a laughing, cackling "ha-ha-ha", similar to the Herring Gull's but often deeper and darker in tone.
In Sweden the species breeds along the coasts, concentrated in the Baltic, with a population estimated at 6,000–12,000 pairs; the northern Baltic form fuscus has declined sharply and is red-listed. It nests colonially on bare skerries and islets, building a simple grass- and seaweed-lined scrape for 2–3 eggs, with both parents incubating, feeding the young and defending the colony together. It feeds largely on fish, especially herring, which gave the species its Swedish name, but also takes eggs and chicks of other birds and scavenges at fishing harbours and rubbish tips; declining herring stocks and pollutants are thought to have driven the decline of the northern form. As a true long-distance migrant it winters as far south as the Mediterranean and Africa.
Read about this species in Swedish →