The Black headed gull (Chroicocephalus ridibundus) is not really a black-headed bird, more chocolate-brown. For much of the year it has a white head, then in summer the adult has a dark chocolate brown head (but not nape and neck), changing to a small black smudge to the rear of each eye in winter. All year round the adult Black-headed Gull has silver grey upperparts and white underparts, and dark red bill and legs. The wings have black wing-tips and a white edge along the forewing which separates it from the Common Gull. Most of the population is migratory, wintering further south, but some birds in the milder westernmost areas of Europe are resident. Sexes are similar and it breeds in much of Europe and Asia as well as coastal eastern Canada.
