Larus cachinnans | UAE National Red List of Birds

Taxa
Larus cachinnans | Pallas, 1811
Publication
UAE National Red List of Birds
Location
Countries in Assessment
United Arab Emirates
Country ISO code(s)
ARE
Does the assessment cover a marine EEZ area(s)?
Off
Scope (Assessment)
National
Taxon
Taxonomic Group
Vertebrates
Taxonomic Group Level 2
Birds
Assessed taxon level
Species
Taxonomic Notes
L. michahellis and L. armenicus (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) were previously lumped as L. michahellis following a review by the BirdLife Taxonomic Working Group. Prior to that, L. armenicus had been split and;L. cachinnans (del Hoyo and Collar 2014) had been lumped with L. michahellis as L. cachinnans following Sibley and Monroe (1990, 1993).
Taxon distribution as listed in assessment
Between September and April, this species is uncommon to locally fairly common along the coast of the UAE (Richardson 1990, Pedersen et al. 2017). The majority of occurrences of this species are likely to be of migrant individuals on passage to and from the breeding grounds as well as of wintering birds (Pedersen et al. 2017). Taxonomic confusion and difficult identification makes the precise distribution uncertain.
Habitats and Ecology
Ecological system type
Terrestrial system
No
Freshwater system
No
Marine system
No
Habitat
Habitat details as listed in assessment
This species inhabits coastal waters and is found at fishing harbours and lagoons. Occasionally, it forages further inland in cultivated fields, along rivers and especially at refuse dumps and sewage treatment plants (Richardson 1990, del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998, Olsen and Larsson 2003). There is not much known about the species ecology in the UAE; thus most of the following information refers to its global distribution range during the non-breeding season. Its diet consists of fish, invertebrates, reptiles, small mammals, refuse, offal, and bird eggs and chicks (del Hoyo et al. 1996, Snow and Perrins 1998, Olsen and Larsson 2003). Outside of the breeding season, the species is gregarious. It is fully migratory. It returns to the breeding grounds in central Asia around April, where it breeds colonially (Richardson 1990, del Hoyo et al. 1996).
Is there a map available in assessment?
Yes
Assessed status
Asessment status in full
Endangered
Assessment status abreviation
EN
Assessment status criteria
D
Assessment rationale/justification
This species potentially has a very small non-breeding population in the UAE, which qualifies it for listing as Endangered. Land conversion is likely to be impacting its wetland habitats within the UAE, and so the species is precautionarily retained as Endangered at the national level.
About the assessment
Assessment year
2019
Assessors/contributors/reviewers listed
UAE National Red List Workshop
Affliation of assessor(s)/contributors/reviewers listed on assessment
Government
IGO
Assessor affiliation specific
Government|IGO
Criteria system
Criteria system specifics
IUCN v3.1 + Regional Guidelines v4.0
Criteria system used
IUCN
Criteria Citation
IUCN. 2012. IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria: Version 3.1, Second edition. IUCN, Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK. iv + 32pp pp. And IUCN. 2012. Guidelines for Application of IUCN Red List Criteria at Regional and National Levels: Version 4.0. Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK: IUCN. iii + 41pp.
Endemism
Endemic to region
Not_assigned
Endemism Notes
Is an endemic?: Not_assigned
Conservation
Threats listed in assessment
The most relevant threats to this species within UAE are potentially from wetland land-use changes, and possibly oil pollution at coastal sites, bycatch and marine debris (plastic) at sea, although the severity of these threats is essentially unknown.Individuals that visit UAE may also be impacted upon by other threats. It has been reported that colonies in the east of the global range are frequently raided for eggs and the species is hunted in the Ukraine (Rudenko 2006, Burger et al. 2018). It has also, previously been culled to protect other Larus species, however this has not been recorded recently. Numerous small oil spills have been reported to cause mortality in the species, for example in Azerbaijan (Burger et al. 2018), though this appears to have minimal impact on the population trend.
Conservation Measures

Conservation measures:
Conservation measures notes:
Required conservation measures:

Further information
History
The population size is thought to have been the same in 1996, and so it would have received the same Red List status.
Scientific Name Kingdom Phylum Class Order Family Genus
Larus cachinnans Animalia Chordata Aves Charadriiformes Laridae Larus