What Animal Lives Where

Where has the Herring Gull been recorded?

Larus argentatus occurrence evidence comes from 3,637,994 records in 42 countries and territories, from 1783 to 2026. Most records come from Belgium.

Herring Gull
Herring Gull — Photo (display-sized rendition): Rhododendrites · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
AvesCharadriiformesLaridaeLarus

Observation evidence passport

Evidence found

3,637,994 records across 42 countries and territories, 1783–2026.

Larus argentatus · GBIF taxon key 2481139

Source coverage

CC0 GBIF Animalia occurrence facets, including country, month and year summaries.

Refreshed 2026-09-20. Inspect the taxon on GBIF.

What this means

The species has been recorded in the listed places in the stated source universe. Peak month: August.

12 months reach at least 10% of the peak facet count.

What this does not mean

repeated describes the record pattern, not a formal range, residency, abundance or conservation assessment.

A single record remains evidence of a recording, not proof that a population lives there.

Compare this animal’s observation pattern

When it is recorded

JFMAMJJASOND

Peak month: August. Records cluster in the months an animal is present and being looked for, so a summer peak can reflect observer effort as much as the animal.

Records over time

17832026

Recording effort has risen steeply almost everywhere since the 1990s, so a rising line usually shows more observers rather than more animals.

Where Herring Gull has been recorded

The countries below show where occurrence evidence exists for Herring Gull. They do not define a complete habitat range: survey effort differs by place, and historical or one-off records can appear alongside repeated presence.

PlaceRecordsShare
Belgium 1,564,719
Sweden 769,156
France 692,798
Netherlands 527,928
United States 57,201
United Kingdom 12,596
Canada 4,255
South Korea 4,042
Russia 3,025
Japan 609
Austria 447
Germany 332
Ireland 152
North Korea 130
Norway 90
Estonia 83
Denmark 66
Mongolia 55
Finland 52
Bermuda 46
Poland 30
Spain 28
Jersey 18
Iceland 16
Latvia 15
Colombia 12
Faroe Islands 8
Isle of Man 8
Oman 8
Lithuania 4
Belarus 3
Italy 3
Uganda 3
Bahamas 2
Czechia 2
Armenia 1
Åland Islands 1
Gambia 1
Greece 1
Kuwait 1

Showing the top 40 of 42 places.

Related animals

Others in the family Laridae.

Lesser Black-backed Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull
4,046,434 records
Black-headed Gull
Black-headed Gull
1,123,276 records
Mew Gull
Mew Gull
986,748 records
Common Tern
Common Tern
519,969 records
Great Black-backed Gull
Great Black-backed Gull
493,641 records
Mediterranean Gull
Mediterranean Gull
263,862 records
Arctic Tern
Arctic Tern
232,790 records
Little Gull
Little Gull
200,388 records
Record pattern: repeated
Repeated records across many years and months. This is inferred from how many years and months the animal appears in, not from a range map — treat it as evidence, not a formal assessment.