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Species

European Herring Gull

Larus argentatus

European herring gulls are large gull found along the coasts of Europe. In Norway they're found across the entire country, and many herring gulls inhabit our cities.

Despite seeming plentiful in urban areas, they are redlisted and considered a vulnerable species here in Norway, where their population has reduced with around 40% the past 3 generations. In the Oslo fjord, their numbers have halved since 2001.

Also known as

  • Larus argentatus (Scientific)
  • European Herring Gull (English)
  • Gråmåke (Norwegian)

31 photos

4 blogs

2 collections

Classification

  • Class: Aves (Birds)
  • Order: Charadriiformes (Shorebirds)
  • Family: Laridae (Gulls, terns, and skimmers)
  • Genus: Larus (Gulls)
  • Species: Larus argentatus (European Herring Gull)

Conservation status

Global: Least Concern (population decreasing)

Norway: Vulnerable

Photos

Portrait of an adult herring gull in winter plumage, zoonmed in on her face. She has a lot of brown/gray stripes, which makes her face look kind of dark. Her beak is on the small side for a herring gull, and has a faded orange/yellow color. Her eyes are yellow, with few very specks on the iris. In front of her is a larger herring gull, completely out of focus. The background are out of focus buildings, creating a blurry gradient.
Close-up (zoomed in and cropped) of the eye and part of the head of an adult european herring gull in winter plumage (white head with brown/gray stripes). Her iris is yellow/light green, with a black pupil that reflects the sunlight and 3-4 tiny barely noticeable black specks on the iris. Around the eye there's an orange circle, out of which tiny white feathers grow, almost like white eyelashes.
Portrait of an adult herring gull in winter plumage, showing the left side of his face. He has a white head, with ligt brown/gray stripes, which gets a bit darker around the eyes. The background are completely blurry out of focus buildings, creating a black/brown/blue gradient backdrop.
Adult european herring gull looking downwards, on the bottom right corner of the picture frame. Behind her is a bright blue sky.
Portrait photo from the chest upwards of an adult European Herring Gull just moulting into winter plumage, with light brown stripes on the head. She's looking towards the camera, and around her right eye her feathers are standing upwards and have blood on them.
Portrait of an adult european herring gull, with a dark blue blurry background. The picture is taken in profile, with the gull looking down.

All photos

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Appears in

Collections (2)

Gulliver & Josefine

13 pictures

2 blogs

Browse collection

Oslo Birds

31 pictures

4 blogs

Browse collection

All collections

Blogs (4)

Meet Gloria, one of our herring gull neighbors.

22. August 2024

  • Birdwatching

An evening with thousands of gulls in Hamningberg

12. August 2024

  • Birdwatching
  • Locations

What we know about "our" herring gull Josefine

1. August 2024

  • Birdwatching

Introduction to Gulliver and Josefine, our rooftop gulls

24. July 2024

  • Birdwatching

All blogs

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