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
Genus: Leucophaeus; Family: Laridae; Order: Charadriiformes.
- 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
Migration pattern: Complete migrants.
Conservation
Population trend: declining.
- Population trend
- declining
Photos
Distribution
Bird Calls
Other Birds
Long-tailed Tyrant
Colonia colonus
Distinctive flycatcher: long central tail feathers usually obvious, longer in males than females. Even without tail, plumage is unique: black body with white back and eyebrow. Fairly small flycatcher, usually perched conspicuously in clearings, open habitats, or forest edges. Listen for rising whistled call.
White-vented Plumeleteer
Chalybura buffonii
Medium-sized hummingbird, male mostly green with turquoise tones. Female green above and gray below. On both sexes, note contrasting white undertail coverts to distinguish from other hummingbirds. Most similar to Bronze-tailed Plumeleteer, but tail dark blue-black, not bronzy. Usually seen singly at flowers in forest, edges, or shrubby second growth. Rarely visits feeders.
Common Yellowthroat
Geothlypis trichas
Small warbler, dull olive overall with intense yellow throat. Adult males have black mask bordered above by a white band. Females and immatures are duller but always have contrasting yellow throat and undertail coverts. Common and widespread breeder throughout North America. Found in shrubby wet areas, including marshes, forest edges, and fields. Often hides in thick vegetation, but males often perch conspicuously when singing. Listen for ringing “witchity-witchity-witchity” song and low, harsh call notes. Very short, rounded wings, which equates to it being a short-distance migrant: winters from the southern U.S. to Central America.
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