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Gulls - Israel (1 Viewer)

Astrokev

Well-known member
2 gulls taken in January at Ma'agan Michael.
Suspect one is Armenian, but unsure about the other. Would appreciate some guidance.

Many thanks
Kevin
 

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75 viewings and no answers!! Not surprised, just got back from Israel myself and got into massive knots with the 1st winter gulls.

I'm not sure how, or even if you can, tell Armenian from some shorter billed Caspians at this age, though the bird on the left looks particularly leggy, has an elongated profile and has a nice sloping forehead... It's bill looks a little short though??

The right hand pic looks like many of the birds we had at Bet She'an, which were in a large flock of mixed age Armenians.

Of course, at Ma'agan Michael, yellow-legged also comes into play, so it gets even more tricky.

Hopefully Lou and/or Jan will have something to say.

Stew.
 
Hmm I'll bump it up I guess. I's struggling to rule out YLG for the second bird - so i await enlightenment. The first bird does look small-billed.
 
i saw them yesterday but was hesitant about the first one. second is quite a perfect armenian on structure and plumage. but i guess even the first one has to be one with its short and stubby bill, a lanky female with long legs and scaps resembling caspian gull. greater coverts are wrong for caspian. i have to look for pics.
 
Both birds seem to be within the ID spectrum of Armenian Gull.As has been mentioned, there is the usual amount of variation with this species, but the 2nd bird does seem to have the distinctive headshape and blunt bill shape of Armenian, as well as the scaps and coverts.Just to throw a curveball into the mix, check out these Gulls, all pics taken in Bet She`an, Northern Israel.View attachment 249698

View attachment 249699

View attachment 249700
 
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Was at Ma'agan Michael in the mid/late 70's where I did a short study on the foraging strategies and success rates of various species of waders. Wasn't in to gulls then so took little notice of them but did Armenian 'exist' then?

Cheers

Davo
 
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