Al Ain, Abu Dhabi
December 2010

The Sooty Gull is distributed around the coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, the Red Sea and south to Kenya and the coasts of Iran and Pakistan.

It is an opportunistic feeder eating mainly dead fish and offal but also birds' eggs and chicks and is a serious predator of Socotra Cormorant Phalacrocorax nigrogularis eggs.

The bird in these photos is a sub-adult possibly a 2nd winter bird. The adult in breeding plumage is darker above with a white collar and a yellow bill with red tip and black sub-terminal band.