Brown-hooded Gull
Chroicocephalus maculipennis
Handsome hooded gull of southern South America and Falklands. Commonest in coastal areas, but also ranges inland to lakes, rivers, dumps, and fields. Extensively to wholly white wingtip is distinctive in all plumages. Breeding adult has dark brown hood (often looks black at a distance) with a white eyering. Immature and nonbreeding plumages have a distinct dark spot on cheeks. Compare with Gray-hooded Gull, which occurs with Brown-hooded in Argentina and the larger Andean Gull, which overlaps locally in central Chile.
Identification
The mature bird has a dark brown head and throat with a white semicircle around the posterior part of the eye, while the neck, chest and abdomen are white. The beak and legs are red. The primary flight feathers are dark gray, while the secondaries and covert feathers are a lighter gray. This bird may be confused with the Franklin's gull. There is no significant sexual dimorphism.
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Chroicocephalus maculipennis
- Authority
- (Lichtenstein, MHC, 1823)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Chroicocephalus
Range and habitat
This species is found in South America, breeding from Argentine and Chilean Patagonia, the Falkland Islands and Uruguay. In winter, its range extends up to the coasts of north Chile and central Brazil. Its natural habitats include freshwater lakes, intertidal marshes, river banks, and open fields.
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
These are gregarious birds. Their diet consists primarily of insects, carrion, and food items obtained through kleptoparasitism from other birds. In particular they steal crabs from the red-gartered coot (Fulica armillata) and clams from the American oystercatcher (Haematopus palliatus). The profitability of stealing from these birds is 3.5 times higher for the coots than the oystercatchers. They build floating nests among aquatic vegetation at the edges of ponds and lakes. Three to four eggs are usually laid.<p>The black-headed duck has a brood parasite relationship with the brown-hooded gull in which a female will lay an egg in the nest of a brown-hooded gull with the intent of having the host gull incubate the egg instead of herself.
Conservation
- Population trend
- rising
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Principe Golden-Weaver
Ploceus princeps
The only weaver on Príncipe, where it is endemic. Typically yellowish with an olive back: male has a golden-orange wash to the head, while female has a plainer face and a white belly. Juvenile is like the female, but duller. Found in pairs and small groups; abundant in almost all habitats on the island. Song is an accelerated fizzling concluding with a wheeze: “pssht-pssht-pshhtt-dzrrt-dzrrt-dzt-dzt-dzr-dzr-dzr-dzr-dzr.”
Malagasy Palm Swift
Cypsiurus gracilis
A very slender gray-brown swift with a long, deeply forked tail that is often held closed, making it look needle-like and pointed. The erratic flight pattern, with frequent direction changes and rapid wingbeats on long, scythe-shaped wings, is distinctive. Less gregarious than other swifts; usually found in pairs or small flocks, and association with other swallows and swifts is usually only fleeting. Forages over a wide variety of habitats with palms, including savanna, coastal scrub, towns, villages, cultivated areas, forest edge, and clearings, from sea level up to 1100 meters of elevation, preferring lowlands. Nests and roosts in palms, especially Hyphaene, Bismarckia, and coconut palms. Gives a high-pitched, metallic “tre-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit” call, solitarily or in unison with others. Separated from other swifts by its longer and thinner tail. Further separated from the larger Madagascar Swift by its much weaker and more fluttering flight.
European Robin
Erithacus rubecula
Distinctive and charismatic little bird with a bright orangey face and breast (easily hidden when facing away). Juvenile is very different, with bold pale buffy spotting on the back and breast. Found in a wide range of wooded habitats, including forests, gardens, hedges in farmland, and heathland, usually fairly near cover. Hops perkily on the ground, pausing to look around, often flicking its wings and cocking its tail. Also feeds by dropping to the ground from low perches, snatching up prey and flying back up to a shady perch. High-pitched song is highly variable, and incorporates a range of warbles and trills. Subsong is a rambling warbling series often incorporating odd fizzing and twittering notes. Calls include a dry “tic”, often given in bursts, as well as a thin, high-pitched, descending alarm call.
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