Relict Gull (Ichthyaetus relictus)
About the Relict Gull
The relict gull or Central Asian gull (Ichthyaetus relictus) is a medium-sized gull. It was believed to be an eastern race of the Mediterranean gull until 1971 and was traditionally placed in the genus Larus. The gull is 44 to 45 cm long with a stocky, thick body. Non-breeding adults feature uniformly dark-smudged ear-coverts and hind crown, white-tipped wings, prominent, isolated black subterminal markings on outer primaries, and no white leading edge to outer wing. Breeding birds have black hoods (including napes) with grey-brown foreheads, and broad, white, half-moon colouring behind, below, and above their eyes. Their legs are orange and their bills scarlet. The name comes from its status as a relict species.
No audio on this page yet
We only publish recordings we may use commercially, because this site is supported by ads. xeno-canto lists 10 recordings for this species: 6 CC BY-NC-SA. None of them permits commercial use, so there is no player here — the page is kept as a profile so the bird is not missing from the guide.
As soon as someone uploads a freely licensed recording, we mirror it and the player appears here.
Listed as recorded in China, Mongolia, Russia in the xeno-canto catalogue.
Related species you can hear
- Mediterranean GullIchthyaetus melanocephalusrecording
This species has no recording here yet — these relatives do, so you can hear what the family sounds like.