Chroicocephalus maculipennis
Silhouette: Michael Scroggie · PhyloPic
In 3 days <5%
The brown-hooded gull (Chroicocephalus maculipennis) is a species of gull, found in South America in Argentina, southeastern Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Falkland Islands. Its specific epithet, maculipennis, means 'spotted wings' (macula + penna). Like the other species of the genus Chroicocephalus, it was formerly included in a broad view of the genus Larus.
Adults in the breeding season have a dark brown head and throat with a white semicircle around the posterior of the eye, while the neck, chest and abdomen are white. In winter plumage, the brown hood is largely lost, retaining just a dark spot behind the eye and a dark smudge around the eye. The beak and legs are red, and the eye is dark brown. The outer primary flight feathers are white with black tips (the 'spots' of the scientific name) above and showing more extensively black from below, while the inner primaries and the secondaries and covert feathers are a silvery grey. There is no significant sexual dimorphism, but young birds are distinct, with the wings mottled pale brown, a black bar on the tip of the tail, paler orange-red legs and the bill orange-red with a dark tip... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Península Valdés | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 2 | Torres del Paine National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 3 | Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park | 🇨🇱 Chile | |
| 4 | Tierra del Fuego National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 5 | Nahuel Huapi National Park | 🇦🇷 Argentina |
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Montevideo | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | |
| 2 | Buenos Aires | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 3 | Rosario | 🇦🇷 Argentina | |
| 4 | Porto Alegre | 🇧🇷 Brazil | |
| 5 | Santiago | 🇨🇱 Chile |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Gull sighting in Porto Alegre on a given day, based on 12 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 130th most-seen of the 159 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to under 5%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Gull in Porto Alegre on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between 3 and 6 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brown-hooded Gull sightings with a recorded time, and about 9 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
4th of 5
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Brown-hooded Gull sightings, Porto Alegre ranks 4th at under 5%. The best odds are in Montevideo (Uruguay, about 30%), Buenos Aires (Argentina, about 10%) and Rosario (Argentina, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-hooded Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Porto Alegre (12 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
