Brown-hooded Gull vs Hartlaub's Gull

Brown-hooded Gull

Chroicocephalus maculipennis

339 gWetland

Adults in the breeding season have a dark brown head and throat with a white semicircle around the posterior of the eye, while the neck, chest and abdomen are white. In winter plumage, the brown hood is largely lost, retaining just a dark spot behind the eye and a dark smudge around the eye. The beak and legs are red, and the eye is dark brown. The outer primary flight feathers are white with black tips (the 'spots' of the scientific name) above and showing more extensively black from below, while the inner primaries and the secondaries and covert feathers are a silvery grey.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: Jorge Chávez · CC BY 3.0

Hartlaub's Gull

Chroicocephalus hartlaubii

Medium288 gCoastal

Hartlaub's gull is 37–39 cm in length, with a wingspan of 89–92 cm and a weight of 235–340 g. It is a mainly white gull with a grey back and upperwings, black wingtips with conspicuous white "mirrors", and a dark red bill and legs. When breeding it has a very faint lavender grey hood, but otherwise has a plain white head. The sexes are similar. This species differs from the slightly larger grey-headed gull in its thinner, darker bill, deeper red legs, paler, plainer head, and dark eyes. It takes two years to reach maturity. Juvenile birds have a brown band across the wings.

ID text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0

Photo: salsaboy on Flickr · CC BY 2.0

Photos and recordings are credited to their authors under the licence shown. Full profiles: Brown-hooded Gull and Hartlaub's Gull.