Sooty Gull
Hemprichmöwe the second winter
The Hemprichmöwe ( Ichthyaetus hemprichii, syn. Larus hemprichii ) is a species of bird in the family of seagulls. This medium sized, mostly rußbraune gull breeds on the coasts of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, to the east of equatorial Africa and possibly in Pakistan.
The specific epithet honors the German naturalist Friedrich Wilhelm Hemprich.
Description
The Hemprichmöwe is about as large as a Common Gull with 42-45 cm body length and a wingspan of 105-118 cm. It acts in a sitting squat and has a relatively large head with a flat crown and large, almost oversized acting beak. The wings are long and slender, the flight left with slow acting, elastic wing beats like a Großmöwe. Due to the staining, the type is somewhat reminiscent of a skua. The wing length is adult animals 320-362 mm, the beak length about 42-52 mm, weight 400-640 g females are slightly smaller and lighter, but not otherwise differ from the males. The difference between winter and summer dress is not very pronounced. Young Hemprichmöwen are fully colored in the third winter. There are no subspecies.
Adult birds
In adult Hemprichmöwen in breeding plumage the head is sooty dark brown, the lids are white, but the lower one is often very thin and difficult to see. The iris is brown, the eye of a narrow red to orange ring surrounded. The beak is yellowish to greenish yellow, the tip is red and a subterminales, about 20 mm wide band black. The throat shows a red-orange color. The dark coloring of the head is sufficient as bib on the front of the neck and is set off by a white back often very narrow neck band from gray-brown back. Also, breast and flanks are gray-brown. The rest of the underside is white. The deck of the arm wing plumage is like the top of gray-brown, the black hand wing. The black wings wearing a white lace, so that the rear edge of the leaf appears white in flight. When folded wings of this seam is often indistinct. The wing underside is brown. Rump and tail feathers are white. The coloration of the legs and feet is yellowish and often plays slightly greenish.
In winter dress is the coloring of the head light and corresponds to the top. Chin and throat are sometimes interspersed with white feathers. The neck band is narrow or absent, light grayish and separated from the back by a blackish hem. Beak and feet are lighter in color.
Youth dress
In juvenile plumage head and upper side are pale brown to beige, dark eyes stand out clearly from it. Neck and shoulder feathers are like the shield springs and the upper wing-coverts edged whitish. The white tips of the middle and large coverts appear as bright bands on the wings. The wings are dark, but already show the white peaks and thus the white trailing edge. Rump, upper tail-coverts and bases of tail feathers stand out as a broad, white section of the black subterminal tail band. Beak and legs, including the feet are gray, the latter slightly lighter. The two-tone in adult animals beak is completely black.
Immature birds
In the first winter, the bright fringes from use on the upper back and shoulders, so that they act monochrome matt brown. The first summer dress already shows features of the second winter dress, in which, in contrast to the adult winter plumage a narrow black tail band is present, the wings darker and narrower white are bespitzt and the plumage of the head hardly settles from the top. The latter is less fully colored and often interspersed with lighter brown feathers. The beak is still black, beak and legs paler overall. In the second summer, the head is already dark, the neckband colored gray than in adult animals and the beak greenish.
Distribution, numbers and phenology
The Hemprichmöwe breeds on the coasts of the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean south along the East African coast to Kenya. In addition, the species is found on Socotra. In Asia, the area stretches east to the edge of the Indian subcontinent in Pakistan. The breeding population there, but have not been confirmed in recent times.
The world population is estimated at 50,000 to 100,000 breeding pairs, the species is considered by the IUCN as not at risk. In Arabia are two breeding colonies with 5000 pairs known in the Persian Gulf, there are about 100-120 and in the Gulf of Aden 50-100 breeding pairs. In Kenya, about 50-100 breeding pairs are established. The breeding season is between April and October.
Between September and November, the spread in the Indian Ocean from South Arabia extends to Mozambique, the style is then often be found on the open sea and in fishing ports. The population in the Red Sea, it seems to be to stand birds.