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Gulls,Gulls,Gulls!! (1 Viewer)

dfd

Well-known member
Hi all,

A bout of illness has lead me to sorting out uncatalogued photos over last couple of days. Any laridophiles (I think there's about 3 of ye out there) want to have a run at these?

Taken as follows:

February; November; May; May; December

Names and ages if poss.

Regards,

David
 

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Mocha said:
Gulls,Gulls,Gulls!!

Title of a song by Sailor wasn't it?

Indeed it was.

"Get out and meet those pretty gulls, gulls, gulls...."

God I feel old all of a sudden!
 
Just a few quick ideas before I retire:

1) Herring Gull - 1st winter
2) Caspian Gull (2nd bird back, and if thats not a Casp, I don't know what is!) and a Yellow Legged in the front. Both 1w. BHGulls surrounding them
3) ad Yellow Legged again - looks to have red eye ring
4) The front bird could be a near ad. armenicus Herring Gull? ad Yellow Legged behind
5) 1st winter Nelsons Gull

I'm really less sure about 3 and 4, come on gullers and correct me!!!
 
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1. 1st winter Herring.
2. Both 1st winter. Foreground Yellow-legged?, background don't know. Actually thought background was GBB at first.
3. Adult summer Herring. Probably a Yellow-legged though...
4. Don't know. Background adult Caspian? Not much to go on. Foregound 3rd winter Mongolian Gull??? No idea.
5. 1w smiths Herring Gull? It's pretty dark. Greater coverts not very well patterned. Two tone bill. Two generations of scapulars. Is that good for smiths in December? Aint got a clue what I'm talking about. Would like to see more piccies though.

They're probably all Ring-billed Gulls.
 
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1. Herring, juv/1st winter
2. Caspian, 2nd winter background, 1st winter foreground. Are these taken abroad? The one in the foreground seems small-billed, but plumage characters good for 1st winter Caspian. Not 100% on the one in background
3. Yellow-legged?
4. Yellow-legged, near adult
5. American Herring (?) 1st winter.

JanJ
 
1) (European) Herring Gull, a dark 1st-winter

2) Two 1st-w Caspian Gulls, with adult Black-headed Gulls behind

3) (European) Herring Gull adult, argentatus (may be 'omissus')

4) Two adult/ near-adult American Herring Gulls?

5) The Galway American Herring Gull when it was a 1st-winter....

Harry
 
Think Harry is right about the two Caspians, the one in the back being 1st winter as well. Didn´t pay good attention to the tertials on the partly hidden one, they are 1st winter, a 2nd winter would at least have one or more 2nd generation tertials. Would be nice to see the covert area on this one!
3+4 tentative, but 4 looks to dark for smithsonianus, and 3 probably argentatus.
JanJ
 
Fair play, very impressive, almost there.

1. All correct on this. Bog standard 1st winter HG, juv/dark aspect being retained into Feb had me speculating on northerly provenance for this one (taken in Galway Feb 05) and hence argentatus. However can't see past late/dark argenteus ultimately.

2. Spot on H, 2 first winter caspians taken in Cyprus November 03.

3. Argentatus, or the gull formerly kown as omissus, taken in Tallinn May 05

4. No one has this yet - taken on a dull day, probably a bit of underexposure at play. Attached is a different shot of same birds whit slightly different light.

5. All correct again with smiths, H has it down to site even!
 

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That´s what I think. The upperpart tone is difficult to judge, a little lighter now than before, and argenteus being paler than argentatus, is not always easy to see since there are overlap in certain areas between argentatus and argenteus.
JanJ
 
JANJ said:
That´s what I think. The upperpart tone is difficult to judge, a little lighter now than before, and argenteus being paler than argentatus, is not always easy to see since there are overlap in certain areas between argentatus and argenteus.
JanJ

This pair were taken in May in Maatsalu, Estonia - solidly in the argentatus range. Darker mantled than the argenteus HGs I'd be familiar with here as well showing more white in wingtips.
 
The expression 'more black less white in wing tip' when talking about argenteus contra argentatus, which has less black and more white, seems to originate from the white mirror in p10, not the tip, and small white mirror on p9 (argenteus). 'More black', from the more frequent black band on p5 and reduced white tongues in the mid primaries (argenteus).
On the gull in the foreground, which isn´t fully adult, 4th summer type, there is a fairly long white mirror, not the tip, which in this case, and that´s the only thing we see, acctually means less white, meaning that the expression mentioned at the top can´t really be applied here, since the wing is not spread and the gull is not fully adult ( variable character though, the p10 tip)

JanJ
 
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