---
title: "Brown-headed Gull"
description: "Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus — Birds. The brown-headed gull (Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus) is a small gull which breeds in the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Ordos in Inner Mongolia."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/brown-headed-gull
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Brown-headed Gull

> Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus — Birds. The brown-headed gull (Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus) is a small gull which breeds in the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Ordos in Inner Mongolia.

- Scientific name: *Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus*
- Category: `birds` (Birds)
- Habitats: `freshwater` (Lakes & rivers)
- iNaturalist observations: 3545
- Wikidata: [Q26064](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q26064)
- iNaturalist taxon: [144511](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/144511)

## Names

- en: Brown-headed Gull
- de: Braunkopfmöwe
- es: Gaviota centroasiática
- fr: Mouette du Tibet
- nl: Bruinkopmeeuw
- pt: Gaivota-do-índico
- pl: Mewa tybetańska

## Countries with the most observations

IN (1595), TH (584), CN (409), LK (68), MM (64), BD (52), MY (15), TJ (9), TW (9), KH (7)

## Summary

The brown-headed gull (Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus) is a small gull which breeds in the high plateaus of central Asia from Tajikistan to Ordos in Inner Mongolia. It is migratory, wintering on the coasts and large inland lakes of the Indian subcontinent. As is the case with many gulls, was traditionally placed in the genus Larus.
This gull breeds in colonies in large reedbeds or marshes, or on islands in lakes, nesting on the ground. Like most gulls, it is highly gregarious in winter, both when feeding or in evening roosts. It is not a pelagic species, and is rarely seen at sea far from coasts.
This is a bold and…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown-headed_gull

## Photo

![Brown-headed Gull](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/brown-headed-gull/medium.jpg)

Photo: Henggang Cui · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/6161767

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/brown-headed-gull?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).