Gulls, Camargue, France (1 Viewer)

Hello everybody,

Please help me id these gulls
1-2 (2 diffirent birds) should not be a big problem, 1-st summer yellow-legged gull?

the following pictures: I wouldn't even bother to ask as at first they seemed to be just black-headed gulls, but some of them have light pink breast... So, I looked up the Svensson's guide and the only species which I came across and which resembles these ones is Bonaparte's gull. Unfortunately, I don't have photos of them flying, so apart from the breast colour I can only judge by size, head colour, bill.
The book says Bonaparte's gull should be visibly smaller. The picture 3 does not support that. Hood colour: I red many times that the head of a black-headed gull is not black but "chocolate-brown", but I can't really see it (look at picture 4 that I think to be a BH gull).
So, my guess
4-6 - BH gull
7 - Bonaparte's gull
3 - BH (left) and Bonaparte's gull

Or, I am totally out of the ballpark?

please help me out

Thanks
Alexey

the rest

Black-headed Gulls can be quite pink on the breast in breeding plumage. All your small gulls are Black-headed Gulls

I agree with Jane. All the hooded gulls are black headed gulls. Bonaparte's has a black bill with light colored orange, yellow, or flesh colored legs. All the hooded gulls have dark red bills, with dark red legs (at least where the legs are showing). Also, Bonaparte's typically has a hood extending farther down the nape.

By the way, I think most of the shots are somewhat underexposed. That is why the dark brown hood looks black, and the reddish coloration on the bill is not always showing up. You can see things better if you lighten the shots in post processing. I attach two as an example of what can be done to see the birds better -- though I will not claim the quick changes I made necessarily make better photos.

Best,
Jim

...and both large gulls are yellow-legged (larus michahellis), first winter.

Thank you very much!
live a century - learn a century
Gulls of Europe, Asia and North America by Klaus Malling Olsen, Hans Larsson should be delivered to me next week, hopefully my future tries will be closer to the mark!

Not sure why no-one else has pointed this out.... but you can be pretty certain the gulls are Black-headed not Bonapartes since they were taken in the Camargue as per the thread title! Bonapartes would be an extremely rare bird anywhere in Europe, so the chances of photographing several is basically zero.

Although the subject gulls are Black-headed Gulls Bonaparte´s Gull has reached Spain and France - from Iceland to North Africa. Gulls wander videly around and can turn up almost anywhere.

http://www.rarebirdspain.net/arbsf031.htm

JanJ