Inca tern | |
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Inca tern at Walsrode Bird Park, Germany, eating a fish | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Aves |
Order: | Charadriiformes |
Family: | Laridae |
Genus: | Larosterna Blyth, 1852 |
Species: | L. inca |
Binomial name | |
Larosterna inca | |
The Inca tern (Larosterna inca) is a Near Threatened species of bird in subfamily Sterninae of the family Laridae, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. [2] [1] It is found in Chile, Ecuador, and Peru [3] and has wandered to Central America and Hawaii. [4]
The Inca tern is the only member of genus Larosterna and has no subspecies. [2]
The Inca tern is 39 to 42 cm (15 to 17 in) long and weighs 180 to 210 g (6.3 to 7.4 oz). Its plumage is unique. Adults have a mostly dark slate gray body with a paler throat and underwing coverts. A white stripe extends back from the base of the bill and fans out as long satiny feathers along the side of the neck. The trailing edge of their wing and the edges of the four outer primaries are white. Their tail is black and moderately forked. Their iris is brown, their legs and feet dark red, and their bill dark red with bare yellow skin at its base. Young are at first purplish brown progressing through brownish gray to adult plumage. Their bill and legs are dark horn-colored and gradually attain the red of adults'. [5] [6]
The Inca tern is a bird of the Humboldt Current region. It breeds from Lobos de Tierra in northern Peru south to the Aconcagua River near Valparaíso, Chile. Some disperse north into Ecuador after breeding. [5] [3] It is a casual visitor to Panama and Costa Rica and has been recorded as a vagrant in Guatemala and Hawaii. [4] The last spent March to November wandering among the islands. [4] Undocumented sight records in Colombia lead the South American Classification Committee of the American Ornithological Society to treat it as hypothetical in that country. [3]
The Inca tern nests on sea cliffs and guano islands and also artificial structures such as ledges under piers and abandoned barges. It will gather with other sea birds on sandy beaches. [5] [6]
The Inca tern is essentially non-migratory, but some do disperse north after breeding and individuals have wandered great distances. [5]
The Inca tern feeds primarily on small fish, such as anchoveta (Engraulis ringens) and also includes planktonic crustaceans and offal in its diet. Large flocks attend fishing boats and also follow feeding cormorants, sea lions, and whales and dolphins. Feeding flocks can number 5000 birds. It catches its prey mainly by plunge-diving but also picks items from the surface while flying or on the water. [5] [6]
The Inca tern's breeding does not appear to be concentrated in any season. Eggs have been found between April and July and between October and December, and other evidence of breeding has been noted in August. It nests in a variety of sites including fissures and caves in rock cliffs, among rocks and boulders on island slopes, in abandoned petrel and penguin burrows, and on and under human structures. The clutch size is usually two eggs though sometimes one. Both sexes incubate the clutch and provision the young. The incubation period is not known; fledging occurs about four weeks after hatch and the young are fully dependent on the adults for at least a month after fledging. [5]
The Inca tern is most vocal at its nesting colonies. Its calls include "raucous cackling notes" and "mewing"; the latter call has been likened to that of a kitten. [5] [6]
The IUCN has assessed the Inca tern as Near Threatened. It has a somewhat restricted range; its population size is not known and is believed to be decreasing. "Reproductive success is dramatically reduced during El Niño events". Human harvesting of its primary prey is a probable threat as is climate change. [1] One estimate placed its population at about 150,000 in 2011. [5]
Terns are seabirds in the family Laridae that have a worldwide distribution and are normally found near the sea, rivers, or wetlands. Terns are treated as a subgroup of the family Laridae which includes gulls and skimmers and consists of eleven genera. They are slender, lightly built birds with long, forked tails, narrow wings, long bills, and relatively short legs. Most species are pale grey above and white below, with a contrasting black cap to the head, but the marsh terns, the Inca tern, and some noddies have dark plumage for at least part of the year. The sexes are identical in appearance, but young birds are readily distinguishable from adults. Terns have a non-breeding plumage, which usually involves a white forehead and much-reduced black cap.
The common tern is a seabird in the family Laridae. This bird has a circumpolar distribution, its four subspecies breeding in temperate and subarctic regions of Europe, Asia and North America. It is strongly migratory, wintering in coastal tropical and subtropical regions. Breeding adults have light grey upperparts, white to very light grey underparts, a black cap, orange-red legs, and a narrow pointed bill. Depending on the subspecies, the bill may be mostly red with a black tip or all black. There are several similar species, including the partly sympatric Arctic tern, which can be separated on plumage details, leg and bill colour, or vocalisations.
The little gull, is a species of gull belonging to the family Laridae which is mainly found in the Palearctic with some colonies in North America. It breeds on freshwaters and spends winters at sea. It is the smallest species of gull in the world and the only species in the monospecific genus Hydrocoloeus.
The gull-billed tern, formerly Sterna nilotica, is a tern in the family Laridae. It is widely distributed and breeds in scattered localities in Europe, Asia, northwest Africa, and the Americas. The Australian gull-billed tern was previously considered a subspecies.
The red-rumped woodpecker is a species of bird in the subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found from Costa Rica south to Peru and east to Brazil, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.
The black skimmer is a tern-like seabird, one of three similar bird species in the skimmer genus Rynchops in the gull family Laridae. It breeds in North and South America. Northern populations winter in the warmer waters of the Caribbean and the tropical and subtropical Pacific coasts, but South American populations make only shorter movements in response to annual floods which extend their feeding areas in the river shallows.
The Antarctic tern is a seabird in the family Laridae. It ranges throughout the southern oceans and is found on small islands around Antarctica as well as on the shores of the mainland. Its diet consists primarily of small fish and crustaceans. It is very similar in appearance to the closely related Arctic tern, but it is stockier, and it is in its breeding plumage in the southern summer, when the Arctic tern has shed old feathers to get its non-breeding plumage. The Antarctic tern does not migrate like the Arctic tern does, but it can still be found on a very large range. This tern species is actually more closely related to the South American tern.
The stripe-cheeked woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is endemic to Panama.
The bronzy inca is a species of hummingbird in the "brilliants", tribe Heliantheini in subfamily Lesbiinae. It is found in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.
The rufous-chested dotterel or rufous-chested plover, is a species of bird in subfamily Charadriinae of family Charadriidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and the Falkland Islands.
The Andean gull is a species in subfamily Larinae of the family Laridae, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. It is found in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.
The snowy-crowned tern, also known as Trudeau's tern, is a species of bird in subfamily Sterninae of the family Laridae, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. It is native to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, and possibly Paraguay, and also vagrant in Peru and the Falkland Islands.
The tufted tit-spinetail is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and possibly Paraguay.
The white-lored spinetail is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Bolivia, Brazil, and Paraguay.
The necklaced spinetail is a species of ovenbird in the family Furnariidae. It is found in Ecuador and Peru.
The yellow-browed woodpecker, also known as the white-browed woodpecker, is a Near Threatened species of bird in the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay.
The blood-colored woodpecker is a species of bird in subfamily Picinae of the woodpecker family Picidae. It is found in Guyana and Suriname.
Cabot's tern is a species of bird in subfamily Sterninae of the family Laridae, the gulls, terns, and skimmers. It is found in the eastern U.S. and Middle America, the Caribbean, Trinidad and Tobago, and in every mainland South American country except Boliva and Paraguay.
The Pacific tuftedcheek is a passerine bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Colombia and Ecuador.
The Chiriqui foliage-gleaner is a species of bird in the Furnariinae subfamily of the ovenbird family Furnariidae. It is found in Costa Rica and Panama.