Location and characterization of new nesting sites for gray gulls, Larus modestus, in the Atacama desert, northern Chile
Guerra C., C.G., Fitzpatrick, L.C., Aguilar P., R.E. and Guillermo S., L.J. 1988.
Location and characterization of new nesting sites for Gray Gulls, Larus modestus, in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile.
Le Gerfaut, 78: 121–129.
Abstract
Nests sites of Gray Gulls, Larus modestus, in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile, between 35 and 100 km from the coast, are described in physiographic, micrometeorological and ecological terms. Nests are situated only in areas of the dry desolate pampas strewn with small rocks and/or dissected by small, dry channels, both of which are important for behavioral thermoregulation of chicks. In actively used sites, nests are widely dispersed within and among subcolonies, in marked contrast to old abandoned sites, which had high densities of nesting gulls.
