Glaucous Gull

Larus hyperboreus

Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
Presence in the Strait: Vagrant
IUCN (global): LC · Least concern
In Spanish: Gavión hiperbóreo

Photograph: Alastair Rae, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist

Length: 63–68 cm
Wingspan: 138–158 cm

Presence in the Strait

Accidental. Nine records young or subadult birds isolated: in Ceuta on 1.02.09, 11.02.09, 14.02.09, 17.02.09 and 03.01.09, in La Línea on 9.02.09 and 25.02.09 and in Tarifa on 6 and 7.02.09.

Bioestrecho editorial text. Last revised: 8 September 2026.

Calendar in the Strait

74 %

Peak in February. Observations under CC0 or CC BY licences. The distribution also reflects observation effort.

Where it is seen

Open records from the atlas database, in cells of about 3.6 km. Opacity follows the square root of the count, and also reflects where people observe most.

See on the map

First open record: 2 April 1998
Latest record: 26 February 2021

The oldest and the most recent open observation in the extended area. A recent first observation does not mean the species is new: it means nobody had published it openly before.

Conservation

The catalogues, Andalusian and Spanish, are what binds; the Red Book assesses the Spanish population with IUCN criteria, and the global Red List is the context.

LCNTVUENCR

Andalusian Catalogue: Not included
Spanish Catalogue: Not included
Red Book of the Birds of Spain 2021: NE · Not evaluated · wintering or migrating
Global Red List (IUCN): LC · Least concern

Andalusian Catalogue: Junta de Andalucía, list of 24 April 2025. Spanish Catalogue: MITECO, table of 30 June 2025. Red Book: SEO/BirdLife, 2021 (Annex I). IUCN: via GBIF, 6 September 2026. Red Book and IUCN categories are assessments; catalogue categories are legal obligations.

Same genus in the Strait

Yellow-legged Gull55–67 cm · Resident · overlapping size
Lesser Black-backed Gull52–67 cm · Seasonal · overlapping size
Great Black-backed Gull64–78 cm · Occasional · overlapping size
Audouin´s Gull48–52 cm · Seasonal
Mediterranean Gull36–38 cm · Seasonal

Species of the same genus that also occur here, ordered by how close they are in size. Being relatives does not mean they are confused in the field, but that is where the doubts start: compare size and season.

Classification

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Charadriiformes
Family: Laridae
GBIF taxon key: 2481127

Sources

Distribution and calendar: Bioestrecho's own database, ingested from GBIF and OBIS
Photograph: Alastair Rae, CC BY-SA, vía iNaturalist
Taxonomy: GBIF backbone, pending WoRMS for marine taxa
Editorial text: written by Bioestrecho
Last revised: 8 September 2026