This is the first evidence for Austria, their breeding area is actually in the Mediterranean region, the bird protection organization reported on Thursday. So far, 444 species of birds have been identified in our country.
The Tyrolean explorer was “not a little surprised” when he spotted an unusual gull on the Inn River and photographed it straight away: It’s an Audouin’s Gull (Larus audouinii). There are only around 15,000 breeding pairs worldwide, said Norbert Teufelbauer, ornithologist at BirdLife Austria. “Many bird fans dream of sightings like this in our latitudes, because the Audouin’s gull only rarely makes it inland. It is closely tied to the sea, where it mainly eats smaller fish.”
According to BirdLife, the northernmost colonies are on the island of Gorgona in the Tyrrhenian Sea off Livorno, on Corsica and Sardinia, on the west coast of Italy and on the Croatian island of Lastovo. The seagull got its name from its coral-colored beak, which also has a black ring and a yellow tip. Their feet are colored dark olive green. In size and shape it resembles the Herring Gull, a regular migrant in Austria.
Source: Nachrichten
