Chroicocephalus maculipennis
Silhouette: Michael Scroggie · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~50% in a week ~80%
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 |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Gull sighting in Península Valdés on a given day, based on 108 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 35th most-seen of the 96 birds we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 50%, and over a week to about 80%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March and May
In those months about 30% of wildlife watchers report a Brown-hooded Gull in Península Valdés on a given day, against about 10% in April and September–October, the lowest months. June and July have too few records to rate.
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.
Yes
Of the 5 parks where we can rate Brown-hooded Gull sightings, Península Valdés has the highest daily chance: about 20%. Next come Torres del Paine National Park (Chile, about 20%) and Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park (Chile, about 10%).
Same family: Laridae
The closest relatives of the Brown-hooded Gull that you can see in Península Valdés (family Laridae, Gulls, Terns, and Skimmers) are Dominican Gull (over 90%), South American Tern (about 40%) and Dolphin Gull (about 40%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brown-hooded Gull is recorded against all the birds logged in Península Valdés (108 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.
