Audouin's Gull / Audouins meeuw

Audouin's Gull (Ichthyaetus audouinii)

Pictures (click on them to enlarge)
2018 first pictures © Bert Kasius	© Bert Kasius	© Bert Kasius
© Sean Dilrosun, birdguide	© Sean Dilrosun, birdguide	© Sean Dilrosun, birdguide
© Gini Dilrosun-Treurniet	© Gini Dilrosun-Treurniet	© Hans Dankbaar
Menorca Spain © Jan Hein Ribot

Audouin's Gull was first seen on the 22nd of March 2018. It was photographed by Cees Witkamp and Bert Kasius and also seen some ays later by Gini and Sean Dilrosun. It was still present on the nineth of April, as it was photographed by Hans Dankbaar on the same spot. It can be recognised by the red on its bill, dark eyes and grey legs.
The Gull is not often seen outside the Mediterranean area. And it seems to be the second observation in South America. A first calender year bird was seen in Trinidad from december 2016 to April 2017 and can very well be the same bird, now in adult plumage. So quite special for Suriname and he is probably moulting.

Video (click the link or the 'play'-button to see)
Video recording of a Audouin's Gull © ;

Distribution

Each small square indicates the observation of at least one (group) of these birds, the medium ones at least four observations on different days and the largest ones ten or more. The color of each square indicates: blue for coastal area, yellow for savanna and red for rainforest.
Not all places in Suriname have been equally often visited by birders, so the distribution of the squares gives an indication of the whereabouts of the birds, but also of the birders. Some places deep in the south have no reported bird observations, by experienced birders, within 60 kilometer.

Abundance in different areas
coastal zone (blue dots on the map) :
northern savannas (yellow dots (in the north)) :
rainforest under 400 m (red dots) :
rainforest above 400 m (red dots) :
Sipaliwini savanna (yellow dots (in the south)) :
A blank is shown if not convincingly reported in the zone. Data interpreted by Arie Spaans, Otte Ottema and Jan Hein Ribot.

Names
Scientific name:	Ichthyaetus audouinii
Order:	Charadriiformes
Family:	Laridae, 18 in Suriname
Dutch:	Audouins meeuw
English:	Audouin's Gull
Sranan ('Surinamese'):
Guyana:
Papiamento:
Spanish (Venezuela):
Portugese (Brazil):
Arowak:
Carib:
French:	Goéland d'audouin

Observations through the year	Observations of breeding through the year

The 1 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.	The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest. Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences. The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Observations through the year

Observations of breeding through the year

The 1 reported observations of this bird in Suriname, mainly for the last 50 years up to 2018, have been grouped by month. More birds on one day are counted as one observation. Of course, if the graph should depict the total number of birds seen, the differences between the months could be much more pronounced.

The reported breeding observations of this bird in Suriname. Most observations are about nest with eggs, some about fledglings, or feeding at a nest or the building of a nest.

Of the about 5000 nests and eggs found for all species together, about 1/3 comes from the egg collection of Penard between 1896 and 1905. For some reason most collecting then was done in the first half of each year, so the shown distribution does not necessarily reflect the actual breeding preferences.
The main dry season in Suriname is reckoned to be from half August to the end of November, the main wet season from half April to half August, but the the timing of begin and end does vary from year to year. Around March a second dry season often occurs.

Last update: September 2024 by Jan Hein Ribot. Please mail your comments, photos to: jhribot ( residing at ) gmail (point!) com.
observations can be uploaded to suriname.observation.org or ebird.org ).