Chroicocephalus brunnicephalus
Scientific Name:-
Chroicocephalus brunnicephalusCommon Name:-
Brown-headed Gull
Malayalam Name:-
Category:-
Sea/Shore birds
Status:-
Least Concern
Description:-
Slightly larger than black-headed gull. The summer adult has a pale brown head, lighter than that of black-headed, a pale grey body, and red bill and legs. The black tips to the primary wing feathers have conspicuous white "mirrors". The underwing is grey with black flight feathers. The brown hood is lost in winter, leaving just dark vertical streaks.
Remark:-
It winters on the coast of India, northern Sri Lanka and south-east Asia, and sparingly to the west of India up to the Arabian Peninsula (del Hoyo et al. 1996). It feeds on fish, shrimps and offal when wintering, and has a large diet including rodents, sewage, grubs, slugs and earthworms during the breeding season (del Hoyo et al. 1996). Rare records from Kerala (Sashikumar et al., 2011).
Habitat:-
It is not a pelagic species, and is rarely seen at sea far from coasts.
Synonyms:-
Larus brunnicephalus
References:-
BirdLife International (2015) Species factsheet: Larus brunnicephalus. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 12/02/2015.
del Hoyo, J.; Elliott, A.; Sargatal, J. 1996. Handbook of the Birds of the World, vol. 3: Hoatzin to Auks. Lynx Edicions, Barcelona, Spain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown-headed_gull
Sashikumar,C., Praveen, J. Palot, M.J., Nameer, P.O. 2011. Birds of Kerala: status and distribution. DC Books, Kottayam.