Charrán de Damara

Identificación

At 23 centimetres or 9.1 inches in length the Damara tern is a small, rather pale tern. In breeding plumage, the adult has a black cap extending from forehead onto the nape and a very pale grey back. In flight, it displays a black triangular wing tip which runs from the carpal joint to the tip of the wing. In non-breeding plumage the adult shows white on the forehead and crown, with a black mask around the eyes extending to the nape. Immature birds are marked with buff bars across the mantle.<p>The calls of the Damara tern are a high-pitched, sharp "tsit tsit" and quick, harsh "kid-ick".:

Taxonomía

This species was previously included in the genus Sterna but with other small terns such as the little tern and the least tern it is now considered to be within the genus Sternula.

Nombre científico

Sternula balaenarum

Autoridad

Strickland, 1853

Orden

Charadriiformes

Familia

Láridos

Género

Sternula

Distribución y hábitat

It breeds in western coastal Southern Africa from the Eastern Cape through the Western Cape and Northern Cape into Namibia and Angola; 98% of the population of 14,000 individuals nests in Namibia. Non-breeding birds migrate north reaching Benin, Cameroon, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, and Togo.<p>The Damara tern generally prefers shorelines in arid, desert regions particularly where there are sheltered bays, estuaries, lagoons and reefs. As breeding areas, it uses gravel plains between dunes and on salt pans.

Área de cría

AF : coastal s Angola, Namibia and South Africa

Área no reproductiva

to Ghana

Migración

Complete migrants

Conservación

Tendencia poblacional

declining