Ichthyaetus hemprichii
Silhouette: Sheatherius · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~80% in a week >90%
The sooty gull (Ichthyaetus hemprichii) is a species of gull in the family Laridae, also known as the Aden gull or Hemprich's gull. It is found in Bahrain, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, India, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Maldives, Mozambique, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. As is the case with many gulls, it has traditionally been placed in the genus Larus. The sooty gull is named in honour of the German naturalist Wilhelm Hemprich who died in 1825 while on a scientific expedition to Egypt and the Middle East with his friend Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg.
The sooty gull is native to the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Gulf of Oman, the Persian Gulf and its range extends as far east as Pakistan. It is also native to the east coast of Africa as far south as Tanzania and Mozambique. It occurs as a vagrant in India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Bahrain. It is a coastal bird, seldom going further out to sea than about 10 km (6 mi) beyond coastal reefs although it has occasionally been seen 140 km (87 mi) from land. It frequents ports and harbours... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Addo Elephant National Park | 🇿🇦 South Africa |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zanzibar City | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 2 | Jeddah | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | |
| 3 | Dar es-Salaam | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | |
| 4 | Mombasa | 🇰🇪 Kenya | |
| 5 | Dubai | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates |
Likely
About 40% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Gull sighting in Zanzibar City on a given day, based on 148 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 20th most-seen of the 86 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 80%, and over a week to over 90%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January
In that month about 70% of wildlife watchers report a Sooty Gull in Zanzibar City on a given day, against about 10% in September, the lowest month.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Sooty 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.
Yes
Of the 5 cities where we can rate Sooty Gull sightings, Zanzibar City has the highest daily chance: about 40%. Next come Jeddah (Saudi Arabia, about 30%) and Dar es-Salaam (Tanzania, about 20%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Sooty Gull that you can see in Zanzibar City (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Gull-billed Tern (about 60%), Lesser Crested Tern (about 40%) and Crested Tern (about 30%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Sooty Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Zanzibar City (148 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.
