Andean Gull
| Andean Gull | |
|---|---|
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| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Aves |
| Order: | Charadriiformes |
| Family: | Laridae |
| Genus: | Chroicocephalus |
| Species: | C. serranus |
| Binomial name | |
| Chroicocephalus serranus (Tschudi, 1844) |
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| Synonyms | |
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Larus serranus |
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The Andean Gull (Chroicocephalus serranus) is a species of gull in the Laridae family. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
At 45-48 cm (18-19 in) long, it is large for a black-headed gull (it is the largest gull with that kind of plumage in the Americas). Its natural habitat is unusual in that it is known to inhabit very high elevations, usually no lower than 3,000 m. At the elevation, it may be variously found around rivers, freshwater lakes, saline marshes, and pastureland. It feeds on a variety of prey items including insects and worms taken on fields and grasslands; it also catches aerial insects and eats some garbage when available. The Andean Gull nests in small scattered colonies, sometimes even as solitary pairs, in small, isolated ponds.
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Larus serranus |
[edit] References
- "The Birds of Ecuador" by Robert S. Ridgely & Paul Greenfield. Cornell University Press (2001), ISBN 978-0801487224.
- BirdLife International 2004. Larus serranus. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Downloaded on 24 July 2007.
- Pons J.M., Hassanin, A., and Crochet P.A.(2005). Phylogenetic relationships within the Laridae (Charadriiformes: Aves) inferred from mitochondrial markers. Molecular phylogenetics and evolution 37(3):686-699
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