The White-eyed Gull (Ichthyaetus leucophthalmus) is a small gull that is endemic to the Red Sea. Its closest relative is the sooty gull. It is one of the world's rarest gulls, with a population of 4,000 – 6,500 pairs. The species is classed as Near Threatened by the IUCN; human pressure and oil pollution are deemed the major threats. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus.
Djibouti anchorage - October 2018
Distribution
The White-eyed Gull breeds on inshore islands with rocks and sandy beaches, such as the Siyal Islands, in the Red Sea from July to september. For the rest of the year it occurs throughout the Red Sea, with some birds travelling to Oman and Somalia.
Range map from www.oiseaux.net - Ornithological Portal Oiseaux.net
www.oiseaux.net
is one of those MUST visit pages if you're in to bird watching. You can find just about everything there
Range of the White-eyed Gull
By User:Rbrausse - used File:Topography of africa.png, range is based on
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/144191/0, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9858966
http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/144191/0, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9858966
Listen to the White-eyed gull
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
Remarks from the Recordist
Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy recorder. High Pass Filter applied with Audacity
Early morning, around 5 o´clock, still dark and I have maybe 10 birds feeding from the surface next to the boat. Recording from maybe 20 meters straight above the birds.
We can hear some water splashes between the bird sound. Still dark so I never took any pictures of the birds. I usually don´t like recordings of birds in groups
But as I could hear it it was only one bird at the time making the sound when coming to the surface, or if it was when leaving as it just to a part of a second to get what ever they were eating.
Sound from www.xeno-canto.org
Remarks from the Recordist
Recorded with my ZOOM H5 Handy Recorder. High Pass Filter applied in Audacity
Birds flying over the water feeding from the surface. A school of fish is passing while the gulls are feeding on the smaller fish.
The gulls are sitting on the water above the school with "too big" fishes for them to eat. Looked beautiful in the light from the floodlights but as it was to dark I could not take any pictures.
Morphology
Adult White-eyed Gulls have a black hood in breeding plumage, which extends down onto the upper throat, and on the neck-sides is bordered below by a narrow white bar. The upperparts and inner upperwings are medium-dark grey; the breast is mid-grey but the rest of the underparts are white.
The secondaries are black with a white trailing edge, and the primaries are black. The underwing is dark and the tail white. Adults in non-breeding plumage are similar, but the hood is flecked white small white spots.
The White-eyed Gull acquires adult plumage at two to three years of age. Juvenile birds have a very different plumage—chocolate brown on the head, neck and breast, and with brown, broadly pale-fringed, feathers to the upperparts and upperwings, and a black tail.
In their first winter, birds acquire greyer feathering on their head, breast and upperparts; the second-winter plumage is closer to that of the adult, but lacking the hood.
A distinctive feature of White-eyed Gull at all ages is its long slender bill. This is black in younger birds, but in adults it is deep red with a black tip. The legs are yellow—dullest in younger birds, brightest in breeding plumaged adults.
The eye itself is not white; the bird takes its name from white eye-crescents, which are present at all ages.
Conservation status
Near Threatened
(IUCN 3.1)
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2006.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sighted: (Date of first photo that I could use) 9 September 2018
Location: Port of Djibouti
White-eyed gull - Port of Djibouti - 9 September 2018
White-eyed gull - Port of Djibouti - 9 September 2018
Juvenile White-eyed gull - Port of Djibouti - 9 September 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 9 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 9 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 9 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 9 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 14 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 14 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 14 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 14 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 17 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 17 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 17 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 17 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 20 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 21 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 25 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 25 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 27 October 2018
White-eyed gull - On board m/t Ribe Maersk, Djibouti anchorage - 27 October 2018
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