Yellow-legged gulls nest on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts from Mauritania to Portugal, along major rivers and on the shores of lakes, such as here Serre-Ponçon lake in the Hautes-Alpes. They also go inland to urban centers where they adapt to human activity, feed in landfills and settle on monuments. While some overwinter near their nesting sites, others migrate at the end of their reproduction to the Atlantic or the North Sea.