Africa Wild Bird Book

[Michele Nel]

316. Hartlaub's Gull Chroicocephalus hartlaubii (Hartlaubse Meeu)
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Laridae

Hartlaubs Gull.jpg (29.61 KiB) Viewed 974 times

Description
Hartlaub's Gull is 36–38 cm in length. It is a mainly white gull with a grey back and upperwings, black wingtips with conspicuous white "mirrors", and a dark red bill and legs. Dark eye. Sexes are similar.
When breeding it has a very faint lavender grey hood, but otherwise has a plain white head.
The juvenile has an all white head and a dark brown bill and brown legs and only a few spots oh the tip of the tail. Juvenile birds have a brown band across the wings.
Similar species: In comparison with breeding Grey-headed Gull, it is slightly smaller, has a thinner, duller bill, only a suggestion of a grey hood, dark, not silver eyes, and deeper red legs. Juvenile differs from same-age Grey-headed Gulls in that they lack a black terminal tail band, less dark areas in the wings, darker legs, and a white head. Juvenile Hartlaub's Gull also lacks the two tone bill. Both, Black-headed Gull and Franklin's Gull lack the dusky underwing.

Distribution: Endemic to southern Africa, occurring along of the coast of Namibia (up to Cape Cross) and the Northern and Western Cape. Hartlaub’s Gull breeds on the west coast between Swakopmund and Dyer Island, with a small, isolated colony at the Heuningnes River mouth. About one half of the total population, currently estimated at about 30 000 birds, are within the Greater Cape Town area. It breeds in large colonies, and the main traditional breeding colony for the Cape Town area is on Robben Island.



Habitat
It generally prefers coastal habitats, especially if disturbed by human activity, in fact approximately half of its population occurs in man-made areas.

Diet
It mainly eats fish and aquatic invertebrates, doing most of its foraging by seizing prey from the water surface while swimming, plunge-diving, scavenging in the wake of trawlers, plucking food from the ground or hawking termite alates aerially.

Breeding
Monogamous colonial nester, with each pair defending a small territory around the nest, defending it by performing aggressive displays. The nest is an untidy bowl of plant stems, typically placed on rocky ground or alternatively among reeds or on a man-made structure, such as guano platforms, buildings, roofs, dam walls and flower pots. Egg-laying season is mainly from March-June in Namibia, and from January-October, peaking from February-April in the Western Cape, although it may breed at any time of year depending on environmental conditions. It lays 1-3 blotched, light-brown or green eggs, which are incubated by both sexes for about 25 days. The chicks are fed by both parents by regurgitation; if a snake approaches the young, the adults attack the intruder.

Call
A very noisy bird, the Hartlaub’s Gull has a raucous call that is not unlike that of a crow, kwaarr. Also a pok-pok. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common to abundant endemic resident.

[Michele Nel]

316. Hartlaub's Gull Chroicocephalus hartlaubii (Hartlaubse Meeu)

© Michele Nel

© Dewi

© Toko
West Coast National Park

© Dewi

© nan
False Bay

Links:
Species text in The Atlas of Southern African Birds
Sabap2
Wikipedia
Biodiversity Explorer

[Flutterby]

312. Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus (Swartrugmeeu)
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Laridae

Kelp Gull.jpg (40.4 KiB) Viewed 970 times

Description
The largest resident gull in the region. Black upperparts and wings. White head, underparts, tail, wing tips. Yellow bill with red spot, dark eyes, whitish yellow feet.
Sexes are alike but female is smaller.
Adult breeding: Head, neck, upper tail coverts, tail and entire underbody white. Saddle and upper wing slate or brownish black, secondaries and inner primaries with broad white trailing edge, outer primaries with white apical spots, outermost primary with sub-apical white mirror. Bill bright yellow, red spot at gonys. During courtship, ads have orange gape that fades through incubation to yellow. Eyes dark brown, rarely pale; eye ring orange. Legs and feet mustard yellow to yellow-green.
Adult non-breeding: As breeding adult, but bare parts duller. Bill pale yellow, with reduced or no gonydial spot.
Sub-Adult: 3 yr as non-br ad, but lacks broad white trailing edge to secondaries and inner primaries and white spots on outer primaries. 2 yr with saddle black; secondary coverts brown. Tail white. Bill yellow, with black and some red above gonys; tip pale.
Immature: Face, neck and underparts paler than juv, with some brown streaking on neck. Upper tail coverts whitish, tail with dark terminal band. Bill mostly black, but greyish yellow basally and tipped pale. Legs and feet pale grey.
Juvenile: Overall blackish brown, with scapulars, wing coverts and rectrices fringed buff. Bill black, usually paler towards tip. Eyes dark brown. Legs and feet grey-brown.
Similar species: Bulkier than Lesser Black-backed Gull and has a larger bill, steeper forehead, and olive (not yellow) legs. Heuglin's Gull smaller, with flatter head and slimmer bill. Ad has paler, slaty grey back and brighter yellow legs. Juvs and imms of both spp have pink legs; other differences primarily structural.
Juvenile resembles Subantarctic Skua and South Polar Skua (https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic. ... 65#p159965).

Distribution
Occurs across most of the coastline of the southern hemisphere, at South America, sub-Antarctic islands, the Antarctic peninsula, Australia, New, Zealand, Madagascar and the coast of Africa. In southern Africa it is common along the coast of Namibia and South Africa while scarce in Mozambique.

Habitat
Inshore waters, open coast, estuaries, harbours and dumps.

Diet
Opportunistic forager and scavenger, with individuals differing in their diet preference, although it is usually consists of mainly invertebrates, especially mussels.

Breeding
Monogamous, territorial and usually colonial, although it may occasionally nest solitarily. Pairs typically stay together over multiple breeding seasons, vigorously defending their nest by dive bombing and defecating on the intruder. The nest is mainly built by the male, consisting of a simple scrape in the soil lined with grass, twigs, kelp, mollusc shells, large feathers, jetsam and small stones, typically placed adjacent to a rock, boulder or wall. Alternatively it may be set into a guano pile or positioned on the roof of a building. Egg-laying season is from September-January. The female lays 2-4 eggs, which are incubated by both sexes 26-27 days. The chicks leave the nest within a few hours of hatching and are brooded and fed by both parents, fledging at about 46-73 days old. They are dependent on their parents up to 12 weeks, although they may beg for food for up to 6 months.

Call
A loud ki-ok and a short, repeated alarm call, kwok; a piercing, guttural scream is given in defence of nest and young.
Listen to Bird Call: http://www.xeno-canto.org/species/Larus-dominicanus

Status
Common resident.

[Flutterby]

312. Kelp Gull Larus dominicanus

© Flutterby

© Toko



© Dewi


Juvenile

© Toko

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Avian Demography Unit: Kelp Gull Larus (dominicanus) vetula "Cape Gull"

[Dewi]

313. Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus (Kleinswartrugmeeu)
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Laridae

Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus.jpg (30.97 KiB) Viewed 964 times

Description
51-61 cm. A medium-sized gull species with a white head, white neck, slate grey back and upperwing with white trailing edge. Primaries black with white mirrors. Head, underparts and tail white. At rest, the wings of Lesser Black-backed Gull project noticeably further beyond the tail. It can also be identified by its yellow legs and yellow bill, which is tipped with a red spot. Pale straw coloured eye.
Juveniles mottled brown with pink legs.
Similar species: At all ages this species may be distinguished from Kelp Gull by its more attenuated appearance, with the wings projecting well beyond tail at rest, and its less robust bill. Compared with Kelp Gull, the adult has rich yellow (not olive) legs. It differs from Heuglin's Gull by black (not grey) back.
The juvenile is told from the juvenile Kelp Gull by flesh-coloured (not brownish) legs. It is distinguished from the juvenile Herring Gull by the lack of pale windows in the inner primaries.

Distribution
Breeds from the eastern coast of North America through Iceland and the UK to the White Sea, heading south in the non-breeding season to the eastern Mediterranean, the Black Sea and sub-Saharan Africa. In southern Africa it is a sparse and erratic visitor, mainly occurring in northern Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia, central and southern Mozambique, the Free State and the North-West Province.

Habitat
Coast, estuaries, harbours, rubbish tips and inland freshwater bodies (lakes, pans, dams and rivers).

Movements and migrations
Palearctic breeding migrant, staying for extend periods of time in southern Africa.

Diet
Omnivorous. I takes small fish, aquatic invertebrates, carrion, nestlings & eggs. It does most of its foraging by diving into the water to catch prey, such as the fish Kapenta (Limnothrissa miodon), or by hawking insects aerially.

Breeding
Breeds in Northern Hemisphere May onwards. Lesser Black-backed Gulls are typically monogamous and arrive at nesting colonies from April. The nest can be anything from a heap of grass or feathers, to a simple, sparsely-lined scrape. Up to three eggs are laid, between May and mid-June, and are incubated by both adults for up to 28 days. The chicks fledge at 30 to 40 days, after which they join other immature birds and non-breeding adults in ‘clubs’, spending most of their time resting and preening. The lesser black-backed gull becomes sexually mature at four years old.

Call
A yelping caw-caw. Also a shorter kop. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Uncommon summer visitor. The Lesser Black-backed Gull is classified as Least Concern (LC) on the IUCN Red List.

[Dewi]

313. Lesser Black-backed Gull Larus fuscus



© Mel



Links:
Sabap2

[Dewi]

321. Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica, formerly Sterna nilotica (Oostelike Sterretjie)
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Laridae

Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica.jpg (27.05 KiB) Viewed 957 times

Description
35-38 cm in length and 76–79 cm in wingspan. A heavy bodied, broad-winged tern with a large, gull like bill. Note the pale appearance and grey rump.
The summer adult has grey upperparts, white underparts, a black cap, strong black bill and black legs. In non-breeding, the head becomes white with a black 'ear' patch behind the eye. Long legged when perched.
Juvenile Gull-billed Tern has a fainter mask, but otherwise look much like winter adults.
Similar species: Similar in size to Sandwich Tern, but has a thick stubby black bill.

Distribution
It breeds in warmer parts of the world in southern Europe, temperate and eastern Asia, both coasts of North America, eastern South America and Australia. All populations 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. It is a rare vagrant to southern Africa, with over a dozen records spread across northern Botswana and Zimbabwe, Mozambique and KwaZu-Natal.

Habitat
A tern of both inland freshwater and coastal areas, generally preferring large rivers and lakes inland, while occurring in estuaries and lagoons along the coast.

Diet
Its diet consists of a variety of small animals, such as fiddler crabs (Uca) and insects, doing most of its foraging by plunge-diving into the water.

Breeding
The breeding season usually begins in early May and extends to early August. The Gull-billed Tern nests in colonies, commonly with large numbers of nests in an area. Breeding habitat includes sand, gravel, or shell beaches, or some grassy areas of coastal islands. The nest is usually built in a depression on the ground. Both the male and female line the depression with grass and other vegetation. The female lays 1-4 (usually 2-3) eggs that both adults incubate for 22-23 days. The young are semi-precocial and leave the nest a few days after hatching. The young are dependent upon the adults for 28-35 days after hatching.

Call
The call is a characteristic ker-wik. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
A rare Summer vagrant to the region.

[Dewi]

321. Gull-billed Tern Gelochelidon nilotica, formerly Sterna nilotica
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Laridae




Adult breeding

Links: Wikipedia

[Flutterby]

322. Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia (Reuse Sterretjie)
Order: Charadriiformes. Family: Laridae

Caspian Tern.jpg (28.84 KiB) Viewed 953 times

Description
The largest tern of the region. Adult birds have black legs, and a long thick red-orange bill with a small black tip. They have a white head with a black cap and white neck, belly and tail. The upper wings and back are pale grey; the underwings are pale with dark primary feathers. In flight, the tail is less forked than other terns and wing tips black on the underside. In non-breeding plumage, the black cap is still present (unlike many other terns), but with some white streaking on the forehead.
Sexes are alike and juvenile has brown fringes to the wing coverts and more grey in the tail.

Distribution
Occurs across much of the world, excluding South America and Antarctica. Within southern Africa it is locally common along the coast of the region as well as inland in Botswana and east-central South Africa.

Habitat
Islands, bays, estuaries, lagoons, inshore waters and large rivers.

Diet
Almost entirely fish. It does most of its foraging 3-20 m above clear, shallow water, facing downwards so that it can spot fish. Once prey is spotted it momentarily hovers before diving head-first into the water.

Breeding
It is a monogamous, solitary or colonial nester, maintaining a pair bond year-round. The nest is excavated by both adults, consisting of a shallow scrape in sand, gravel, soil or pebbles, often lined with some dry vegetation. Egg-laying season is from December-April in Namibia and Botswana, June-August in north-eastern South Africa, February-July in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape and from October-January in the Western Cape. It lays 1-3 pale blue green eggs, with heavy brown spotting. Eggs are incubated by both sexes for about 22-24 days. The chicks are brooded and fed by both parents, leaving the nest after about a week, taking their first flight at approximately 30-35 days old but only becoming independent about eight months later.

Call
Harsh grating kraa in flight. Listen to Bird Call.

Status
Common resident.

[Flutterby]

322. Caspian Tern Hydroprogne caspia

© Flutterby

© Grumpy
Breeding

© Michele Nel
Non-breeding

Links:
Species text Sabap1
Sabap2
Avian Demography Unit