Pelagic Birds of West Coast -Udupi and Mangalore- Harish Bhat R1, Shivashankar M2, Vineeth Kumar K3 & Karthik Bhat P4

Pelagic Birds of West Coast -Udupi and Mangalore- Harish Bhat R1, Shivashankar M2, Vineeth Kumar K3 & Karthik Bhat P4. 1 Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 2 Sarasvath nagar, Karkala 576117, Karnataka 3 Department of Applied Zoology, Mangalore University, Mangalore 574199 4 #27/1, Jayadeep Nivas, Kudvas Compound, Kuntalpady, Karkala 574104 • Any water in a sea or lake that is neither close to the bottom nor near the shore can be said to be in the pelagic zone. • Pelagic birds, also called oceanic birds, live on the open sea, rather than around waters adjacent to land or around inland waters. • These birds migrant from far distance during winter from temperate to tropics to escape the harsh weather. • Their arrival also indicates the change in climatic condition at the temperate countries. Their presence supports the favourable environment with less disturbances.

Black Headed Gull Brown Headed Gull Gull-billed tern Black Headed Specific • Breeds in Coastal Specific • Breeds in the high Brown Canada, Europe plateaus of central Gull ations and Asia. ations Asia from Tajikistan Gull • 38–44 cm long to Ordos in Inner with a 94–105 cm Mongolia. wingspan. • Pale brown head, • Leading edge to the lighter than that of wing is a good field black-headed, a pale mark. grey body, and red • Chocolate-brown bill and legs, black head, pale grey tips to the primary body, black tips to wing, underwing is the primary wing grey with black feathers, and red flight feathers bill and legs • Brown hood is lost Chroicocephalus • Bold and Gelochelidon in winter, leaving Chroicocephalus opportunistic just dark vertical ridibundus feeder. nilotica streaks brunnicephalus

Parasitic jaeger Gull-billed tern Swinhoe's Storm-petrel

Specifi • Breeds in the Specific • Breeds in warmer parts of the world in Specific • Breeds on islands in cations north of southern Europe, temperate and eastern Asia, the northwest Pacific ations both coasts of North America, eastern South ations off China, Japan and Eurasia and America and Australia Korea. North • 33–42 cm in length and 76–91 cm in wingspan. • 18–21 cm in length • short thick gull-like bill, broad wings, long legs with a 45–48 cm America. and robust body wingspan. • 41–48 cm in • Dark brown in all length, 107– plumages, and has a fluttering flight. 125 cm in • Planktonic food. wingspan. • White underparts and dark primary wing Feathers. Fore Hydrobates head and neck monorhis are yellowish- white

Heuglin's gull Arctic skua chasing the Wilson's Storm-petrel Wilson's Heuglin's gull Specifi • Breed in the tundra Greater crested tern of northern Russia Specifi • Breeds in Antarctic cations from the Kola Coastline. Storm-petrel (Siberian gull) Peninsula east to the cations • 16–18.5 cm in length Taymyr Peninsula. Greater crested tern with a 38–42 cm • Large gulls with a wingspan. rounded head, strong • It lacks the whitish bill and long legs and Specifi • Breeds on many lining to the under islands in the Indian wing and a nearly all wings. cations • 53 to 70 cm long , Ocean, Aldabra and dark upperwing wingspan 138 to 158 Etoile in the • Petrels have a white cm Seychelles, the Chagos rump (prominent) • Legs are usually Archipelago, and yellow but can be Rodrigues pink. • 5.4–6.5 cm yellow • Heavier streaking on bill, black legs, and a the hindneck glossy black crest, Larus 125–130 cm wing- span. heuglini • forehead and the underparts are white, the back and inner Whiskered tern wings are dusky-grey

Specifi • Breed in warmer parts • Coastal Security Police Department, of Europe and Asia Greater crested Whiskered tern cations • Sides of the neck are white, this sometimes Udupi continues across the tern nape. • Bill 25 – 34 mm. • Collar is less sharply defined.

Chlidonias • Shri Chennabasavanna IPS, SP, Coastal hybrida Security Police