Sterna zampenere

Identificazione

This is a fairly large and powerful tern, similar in size and general appearance to a Sandwich tern, but the short thick gull-like bill, broad wings, long legs and robust body are distinctive. The summer adult has grey upperparts, white underparts, a black cap, strong black bill and black legs. The call is a characteristic ker-wik. It is 33–42 cm (13–17 in) in length and 76–91 cm (30–36 in) in wingspan. Body mass ranges from 150–292 g (5.3–10.3 oz).<p>In winter, the cap is lost, and there is a dark patch through the eye like a Forster's tern or a Mediterranean gull. Juvenile gull-billed terns have a fainter mask, but otherwise look much like winter adults.<p>Juvenile Sandwich terns have a short bill, and are frequently mistaken for gull-billed tern where the latter species is uncommon, such as North Sea coasts.

Tassonomia

The gull-billed tern was formally described in 1789 by the German naturalist Johann Friedrich Gmelin in his revised and expanded edition of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae. He placed it with terns in the genus Sterna and coined the binomial name Sterna nilotica. Gmelin based his description on the "Egyptian tern" that had been described in 1785 by the English ornithologist John Latham in his book A General Synopsis of Birds. Latham had in turn based his own account on that by the Swedish naturalist Fredrik Hasselquist that was published in 1757. The gull-billed tern was moved to the resurrected genus Gelochelidon based on a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2005. The genus had been introduced in 1830 by the German zoologist Alfred Brehm. The genus name combines the Ancient Greek gelaō meaning "to laugh" with khelidōn meaning "swallow". The specific epithet nilotica is from Latin niloticus meaning "of the River Nile".<p>Five subspecies are recognised:

Nome scientifico

Gelochelidon nilotica

Autorità

(Gmelin, JF, 1789)

Ordine

Caradriformi

Famiglia

Laridae

Genere

Gelochelidon

Areale e habitat

It breeds in warmer parts of the world in southern Europe, temperate and eastern Asia, both coasts of North America, eastern South America. This bird has a number of geographical races, differing mainly in size and minor plumage details.<p>All forms show a post-breeding dispersal, but the northern breeders are most migratory, wintering south to Africa, the Caribbean and northern South America, southern Asia and New Zealand.<p>The gull-billed tern is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies.

Areale riproduttivo

PAL, AF, OR, NA, MA, SA : widespread inland, sw Europe to ne China; coastal China; coastal w North Atlantic and Caribbean; coastal s California and Mexico; coastal South America and inland nc Argentina

Areale non riproduttivo

to subtropical and tropical coasts, rivers and lakes worldwide (except remote is.)

Migrazione

Migratori completi

Comportamento

Comportamento migratorio: Migratori completi.

Conservazione

Tendenza della popolazione: in diminuzione.

Tendenza della popolazione

in diminuzione