---
title: "What the sources say about the European Herring Gull | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "63 claims from the European Herring Gull profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/european-herring-gull-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/european-herring-gull/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the European Herring Gull (*Larus argentatus*)

> 63 claims from the European Herring Gull profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [European Herring Gull](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/european-herring-gull/)

## Herring Gull. RSPB.

https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/herring-gull

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A large, pink-legged gull | Herring Gulls are large, noisy gulls (note: tagline; legs: next claim) |
| pink-legged | Their legs are pink with webbed feet (note: tagline) |
| paddles its feet on the ground to bring worms up | You might see them imitating rain with their feet as they encourage worms to the surface. (note: tagline) |
| and now nests on rooftops as well as cliffs | They tend to nest on the ground, on cliff ledges, or on rooftops (note: tagline) |
| Paddling for worms | You might see them imitating rain with their feet as they encourage worms to the surface. (note: heading) |
| The RSPB says you might see gulls imitating rain with their feet to encourage worms to the surface. | You might see them imitating rain with their feet as they encourage worms to the surface. |
| The RSPB gives its length as 54 to 60 centimetres. | Measuring between 54 and 60cm |
| Adults have light grey backs, white undersides and black wing tips with white spots. | Adults have light grey backs, white under parts, and black wing tips with white 'mirrors'. (note: spots: RSPB key features also say black wingtips have white spots) |
| Their legs are pink. | Their legs are pink with webbed feet |
| The heavy bill has a red spot | heavy, slightly curved bills marked with a red spot |
| chicks peck at it to tell the parent they are hungry. | Herring Gull chicks will peck at the red spot on their parent's beak to let them know they are hungry. |
| From cliffs to rooftops | Herring Gulls began swapping cliffside ledges for urban rooftops in the 1920s (note: heading) |
| In the 1920s they began swapping cliffside ledges for urban rooftops. | Herring Gulls began swapping cliffside ledges for urban rooftops in the 1920s (note: RSPB, UK scope; follows the 'In Britain' sentence) |
| The RSPB notes that pair bonds are often lifelong. | their pair bonds are often lifelong |
| In the UK the RSPB gives its conservation status as Red because of ongoing population declines. | This species is on the Red List due to ongoing population declines and wintering population declines. (note: UK Birds of Conservation Concern Red List, not IUCN; page header 'UK Conservation status: Red'; 'because' paraphrases 'due to') |
| This is a large gull. | Herring Gulls are large, noisy gulls |
| the RSPB says you might see gulls imitating rain with their feet to encourage worms to the surface | You might see them imitating rain with their feet as they encourage worms to the surface. (note: vibe.reason) |

## Herring Gull. BTO BirdFacts, British Trust for Ornithology.

https://www.bto.org/understanding-birds/birdfacts/herring-gull

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The BTO says the green shore crab is a particular favourite. | with Green Shore Crab being a particular favourite |
| Size and lifespan | Typical life expectancy of bird reaching breeding age (note: heading) |
| Adults weigh 970.6 grams on average | All adults / 970.6±152.3 g (note: BTO biometrics: adult body weight average) |
| nine in ten fall between 757 and 1,264 grams | (757-1264 g, N=974) (note: 5th to 95th percentiles per BTO) |
| A gull that reaches breeding age can expect to live about 12 years. | Typical life expectancy of bird reaching breeding age / 12 years with breeding typically at 4 years |
| Breeding usually starts at around 4 years old. | 12 years with breeding typically at 4 years |
| In Britain, herring gulls were once confined to the coast as breeders. | Once confined to the coast as a breeding bird (note: BTO BirdFacts is a British page ('one of our most familiar'); scope Britain) |
| The British Trust for Ornithology uses ringing data to estimate a typical life expectancy of 12 years for a gull that survives to breeding age. | Survival is shown as the proportion of birds surviving from one year to the next and is derived from bird ringing data. / It can also be used to estimate how long birds typically live. / Lifespan / Typical life expectancy of bird reaching breeding age / 12 years (note: FAQ 1) |
| About 88 in 100 adults survive from one year to the next. | Survival of adults All adults 0.88 (note: FAQ 1; 0.88 annual survival = 88 in 100) |
| weightKg: 0.97 | All adults 970.6±152.3 g (note: battleStats.weightKg; BTO live-bird average, N=974) |

## European Herring Gull (Larus argentatus). BirdLife International Data Zone.

https://datazone.birdlife.org/species/factsheet/european-herring-gull-larus-argentatus

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Coasts and near-coastal areas, and can forage inland on lakes, reservoirs, fields and refuse dumps | The species inhabits coastal and near-coastal areas but may also forage inland on large lakes and reservoirs, fields and refuse dumps (note: stats.habitat) |
| breeds from Iceland, the British Isles and France through northwest Europe and northern Siberia to the Bering Strait | Herring Gulls breed from Iceland, the British Isles and France through northwest Europe to northwest Russia, and northern Siberia east to the Bering Strait (note: stats.habitat) |
| Fish, earthworms, crabs and other marine invertebrates, bird eggs and young, rodents, insects, and scraps from refuse dumps | It takes fish, earthworms, crabs and other marine invertebrates (e.g. molluscs, starfish or marine worms), adult birds, bird eggs and young, rodents, insects (e.g. ants), berries and tubers (e.g. turnips) (note: stats.diet; sentence also names adult birds, berries, tubers (left out of the stat for length)) |
| scraps from refuse dumps | It also scavenges at refuse dumps, fishing wharves and sewage outfall zones (note: stats.diet) |
| BirdLife International calls its diet highly opportunistic | The species has a highly opportunistic diet |
| it takes fish, earthworms, crabs, other marine invertebrates, bird eggs and young, rodents and insects | It takes fish, earthworms, crabs and other marine invertebrates (e.g. molluscs, starfish or marine worms), adult birds, bird eggs and young, rodents, insects (e.g. ants) |
| It also scavenges at refuse dumps. | It also scavenges at refuse dumps |
| The gull breeds from Iceland, the British Isles and France through northwest Europe to northwest Russia, and across northern Siberia east to the Bering Strait. | Herring Gulls breed from Iceland, the British Isles and France through northwest Europe to northwest Russia, and northern Siberia east to the Bering Strait |
| Northern birds migrate, while southern ones are nomadic or do not migrate. | Northern breeding populations of this species are migratory (del Hoyo et al. 1996) whereas populations in the south are nomadic or completely non-migratory |
| A common bird in decline | Current population trend / Decreasing (note: heading) |
| BirdLife estimates approximately 1,060,000 to 1,220,000 mature adults | approximately 1,060,000-1,220,000 mature individuals |
| but the population trend appears to be decreasing. | the population trend appears to be decreasing (note: trend derivation 'Suspected') |
| The decline appears to be partly linked to waste management and reduced fishery discards. | The decline appears to be partly linked to waste management and reduced fishery discards |
| BirdLife International estimates 531,000 to 608,000 breeding pairs. | The breeding population is estimated to number 531,000-608,000 pairs (note: FAQ 2) |
| The trend appears to be decreasing | the population trend appears to be decreasing (note: FAQ 2) |
| but BirdLife does not currently believe the fall is fast enough to count as Vulnerable. | the decline is not currently believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for Vulnerable under the population trend criterion (note: FAQ 2) |
| Its menu is long. | The species has a highly opportunistic diet and will exploit almost any superabundant source of food (note: framing sentence for the diet list) |
| Numbers grew during the 20th century | The species's population increased and the distribution expanded in many range states and overall during the 20th century (note: 'and overall' covers the whole population) |
| around the turn of the century declines began in several key countries, including Norway and the UK. | Around the turn of the century, declines began in several key countries, including Norway (Fauchald et al. 2015) and the UK (JNCC 2020) |

## Larus argentatus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2021: e.T62030608A206585142.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2021-3.rlts.t62030608a206585142.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Least Concern | Least Concern (note: stats.conservationStatus; Data Zone factsheet, year of last assessment 2021) |
| The IUCN Red List rated the species Least Concern in 2021. | Year of last assessment 2021 ... Least Concern (note: BirdLife Data Zone factsheet, year of last assessment and category) |

## Catania (2008). Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming—Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait. PLoS ONE.

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0003472

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| paddles its feet on the ground to bring worms up | Tinbergen [4] noted that herring gulls exhibit a foot-paddling behavior, which flushes worms from the ground in Europe. (note: tagline; second source) |
| Paddles its feet on the ground to flush worms to the surface | herring gulls exhibit a foot-paddling behavior, which flushes worms from the ground in Europe (note: stats.superpower) |
| It paddles its feet on the ground. | herring gulls exhibit a foot-paddling behavior, which flushes worms from the ground in Europe |
| A 2008 study of worm hunting quotes Tinbergen's view that paddling brings up earthworms, which seem to have an innate reaction to the quivering of the soil that helps them escape their arch enemy, the mole. | One is the bringing up of earthworms , which seem to have an innate reaction to the quivering of the soil which is of value , enabling them to escape their arch enemy , the mole (note: blockquote; Catania quotes Tinbergen; 2008 is the reference's year) |
| Tinbergen also suggested paddling flushes small animals out of muddy pools of water | He suggests the other reason was to flush and expose small animals in muddy pools of water, where foot paddling is often observed. |
| and the study suggests that is where the habit began. | This presumably more common practice for gulls suggests the origins of the behavior |
| Mole alarm | he suggested the earthworm's innate response to vibrations was to escape moles (note: blockquote lead-in) |

## Goumas et al. (2019). Herring gulls respond to human gaze direction. Biology Letters.

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2019.0405

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| in towns they appear to have turned that habit on people. | Herring gulls in urban environments appear to have generalized their kleptoparasitic activities to target humans |
| In Cornwall, researchers found that gulls that did touch a bag of chips took significantly longer to approach when the person was looking straight at them. | When gulls did touch the food, they took significantly longer to approach when the experimenter's gaze was directed towards them compared with directed away. (note: food was 250 g of fried potato chips in a sealed bag; 'coastal towns in Cornwall, UK') |
| Researchers in Cornwall set a sealed bag of chips in front of a person | The food was presented inside a sealed, transparent freezer bag (note: FAQ 3; chips: 'We placed 250 g of fried potato chips') |
| only 26% of the gulls they targeted would touch it | only 26% of targeted gulls would touch the food (note: FAQ 3) |
| which suggests food-snatching is likely done by a minority. | suggesting that food-snatching is likely to be conducted by a minority of individuals (note: FAQ 3) |
| Some do. | suggesting that food-snatching is likely to be conducted by a minority of individuals (note: FAQ 3) |
| Herring gulls steal food from other gulls and other species | herring gulls are kleptoparasites [ 6 ] and take food from both conspecifics and heterospecifics (note: conspecifics = other herring gulls) |
| In Cornwall | We studied herring gulls (hereafter ‘gulls’) in coastal towns in Cornwall, UK (note: also FAQ 3) |