Gray Gull
Leucophaeus modestus
Distinctive and often noisy and conspicuous. The only dark gull in its range in the Humboldt Current. Common over inshore waters and along the coast on sandy beaches, at river mouths, and on adjacent rocky coasts, but breeds inland in remote areas of the Atacama Desert. Breeding adult has a white head while immatures are brown overall; all ages have slender black bill and dark legs. Immatures look like adults in 3 years.
Identification
The sexes are similar in grey gulls. Adults grow to a length of about 45 cm (18 in) and weigh some 360 to 400 g (13 to 14 oz). The head is white in summer but brownish-grey in winter. The body and wings are grey with the dorsal surface rather darker than the ventral region. The flight feathers are black and the inner primaries and the secondaries have white tips, visible in flight. The tail has a band of black with a white trailing edge. The legs and beak are black and the iris is brown. The call is similar to that of the laughing gull (Leucophaeus atricilla).
Taxonomy
- Scientific name
- Leucophaeus modestus
- Authority
- (Tschudi, 1843)
- Order
- Charadriiformes
- Family
- Laridae
- Genus
- Leucophaeus
Range and habitat
The grey gull breeds inland in the Atacama Desert in northern Chile. Its non-breeding range includes s. Ecuador, Peru through south-central Chile, and it has been recorded in the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It is a vagrant to Mexico, the Galapagos, Guatemala, Brazil, Argentina, Panama and Florida; an earlier report of it in Louisiana, from 1987, has not been accepted by a birdwatching authority.
- Breeding range
- SA : Atacama Desert (n Chile)
- Non-breeding range
- to coasts of Ecuador to c Chile
- Migration
- Complete migrants
Behavior
For many years, it was a mystery as to where this bird breeds because no coastal colonies had been identified. However, in 1945, it was discovered that it bred in the Atacama Desert in the interior of Chile. This hot and arid environment has few predators and may be relatively safe for the breeding gulls. The site chosen for the nest, a scrape in the sand and often near rocks, is a waterless region some 35 to 100 km (22 to 62 mi) from the coast. Once the eggs hatch, the parents take it in turn to make the round trip to the sea to bring food and water to their offspring.<p>The humidity, wind speed, air and surface temperatures vary widely on a daily basis and the gull has to use various thermo-regulatory mechanisms when nesting to maintain its body temperature and that of its eggs and chicks within acceptable limits. In the hottest part of the day the parent bird stands over its nest to prevent the eggs or chicks overheating. Its chief predator is the turkey vulture (Cathartes aura) and when threatened, the incubating parent sometimes leaves the nest temporarily, and when this happens the eggs need to have impervious shells in order to avoid losing too much water through evaporation. In fact, the evaporative loss from the eggs is found to be about one third of that which occurs in Heermann's gull (Larus heermanni), another desert nesting species.<p>The typical habitat of the grey gull is sandy beaches and mudflats along the western coasts of South America where it probes with its beak in the sediment for invertebrate prey, particularly mole crabs. It also eats fish and ragworms, scavenges for offal and sometimes follows fishing boats.
Conservation
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Mountain Trogon
Trogon mexicanus
Fairly large trogon of pine and pine-oak forests in highlands; usually at upper levels in trees and often rather shy. Male is striking, with big, bold white squares on underside of tail. Female has broken white eyering on brown head and coarse black-and-white pattern under the tail. Elegant Trogon overlaps in range and can be told from Mountain by the coppery color on the top of the tail (male) or by the white stripe behind the eye (female). Also note the finely patterned tail on both male and female Elegant Trogons. The similar but smaller Collared Trogon is found mainly at lower elevation and has much finer barring on the underside of the tail.
Rusty-margined Flycatcher
Myiozetetes cayanensis
One of several medium-sized, kiskadee-like flycatchers that are bright yellow below, with bold black-and-white head pattern. Rusty-margined is one of the smaller ones, with a smaller bill than Great Kiskadee. Most similar to Social and White-ringed Flycatchers; look for combination of black cheek (not gray) and especially obvious rufous in the wings. Shorter bill than White-ringed. Voice is helpful: listen for lazy-sounding, slightly burry “wheeer” call. Found in a variety of open wooded habitats such as forest edge and second growth, often around water.
Nendo Whistler
Pachycephala ornata
Brightly-colored male has a bright golden belly, a black chest band and head, and a clean white throat. He appears to have a black “shawl” with golden wings and a black tail. Female is considerably duller, being olive-brownish above and yellow below, with a pale throat and brown breast. Endemic to a handful of islands in the southeastern Solomons, where it is found in most island habitats, though avoids villages. Voice includes a sequence of sparsely spaced, thin, uninspired whistles. Formerly grouped with Vanikoro Whistler and Utupua Whistler under “Temotu Whistler.”
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