Audouin's Gull

Audouin ( Ichthyaetus audouinii )

The Audouin's Gull ( Ichthyaetus audouinii ) is a gull species with a breeding population of about 15,000 pairs, which is restricted to the Mediterranean.

Features

Audouin's gulls are medium-sized gull with a body length of 51 cm. You are the head, neck and underparts and tail white, the back and top of the wings are light gray. The beak is coral red with a black ring near the yellow top, her feet are dark olive green. From a distance, eyes, beak and feet as black, and although according to size closer to a herring gull (Larus argentatus ), the type but acts much lighter built and elegant, total in habit rather a large common gull (Larus canus) similar.

Occurrence

The hotbeds of Audouin located in rocky cliffs or on offshore reefs, with the exception of the colony in the Ebro Delta in Spain, which is on a salty and sandy coastline. The main colonies (about 90 % of the total population ) are located in protected areas. The wintering areas of Audouin are little known and include Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco and Senegal.

Audouin's gulls breed in Algeria, France, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey. The northernmost colony on the island of Gorgona in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off Livorno.

Nutrition

The diet of Audouin comprised of mainly fish, but also other birds or plant seeds.

Reproduction

Audouin's gulls breed in colonies whose thickness varies between a few thousand and couples. The breeding is done quite regularly in certain areas. New colonies sometimes occur, as happened in the Ebro Delta. There, the colony grew from 36 (1981 ) on 9400 couples ( 1994).

Threats and conservation

Because of the population growth in the western Mediterranean over the last 20 years, the species is now regarded as certain.

Mediterranean gulls (Larus michahellis ) may be responsible for heavy losses of young and nest destruction of coral seagulls, but that does not happen in all the colonies or in all years.

The habitats of Audouin be destroyed mainly through tourism. They are kept away by hotels and noise from their breeding grounds. The worst does it manifest itself in the Balearic Islands. The breeding season falls there with the peak season of tourists and by the easy access to many colonies they are often plagued by careless tourists.