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Dear all
I am new into this forum and I hope that I am doing all the right things to get this thread on. The site looks more complicated than other sites I have used so I hope someone will pass on any advice to me that will help me use this site properley. I don't understand quite a bit of the jargon on this site such as post a poll etc so help will definitely be needed.
I noticed the site in the Bird Watching magazine and have only just decided to see what it is all about. I have a gull ID problem that hopefully someone might be able to help out with.
I have just come back from a two week holiday from mainland Greece and need help with a Gull I.D if it is possible. (My trip report will appear on the Birdtours.co.uk site shortly if anyone is interested. I have quite a few trip reports on this site already from Scotland to many parts of Europe)
The gull in question was found on the Rodia Lagoon (near Prevesa, north west Greece) at 13:30 on 04/10/02 and we watched it for over an hour. Unfortunately for the whole time the sun was shining directly onto the water in front of us and we had to catch snatches of the bird in shaded areas to gather the info I have.
I found it amongst 4 Black headed gulls and almost dismissed it as another one of them as it had the familiar black spot just back of the eye but looking at it again the jizz of the bird didn't look right. The neck was more slender and longer. The beak was long and slender without any black on it. The eye was yellow with the centre being a small black spot. The face had a cutish look about it whereas the B.H.gull doesn't. Thin black tail bar. Legs seemed longer and thinner than the B.H.Gull (for a while it stood on a small rock) and they were a very light orange to yellow in colour. When at rest in the water the wings protruded well back from the tail and lay in a scissor formation and seemed to have blackish wing tips. Unfortunately each time it flapped its wings the sun blotted out any chance of me really looking at the underwing or any part of the upper wing. When at rest the wing feathers looked almost whitish and very fluffy (that is the best I can describe them). There were minor darkish blotches, amongst the wing feathers) which made me think that the bird could be a juvenile. The black spot on the head was about two inches from the eye but didn't look as black as the B.H.Gulls spot (it was possibly further back on the head as well). The bird had a more compact look about it than the B.H.gull but looked slightly longer in length than the B.H.Gull. It kept on dipping into the water like a duck would (upended rear end). It would also flap its wings and move over the water very slightly above the water line then drop into it beak first to grab a fish. It would also lift itself off the water for about a couple of feet and then drop like a tern does.
My first thought would be slender billed gull but I have never seen one and my field guide doesn't give a write up of the eye colour. The picture, in the book, shows a whitish eye and also a pinkish chest, which I don't think this bird had, although the very bright light didn't help.
Is there anyone that could confirm, from that description, what gull it was that were looking at. I hope you don't mind me asking your advice regarding the gull ID
We also had an amazing piece of luck when we found a wetland, by chance, right near to the Albanian border at a place called Sagiada. We had a definite sighting of a Slender billed Curlew which, as you know, is a very rare bird. It was on the edge of a party of 20+ Curlews and really stood out as something different. If I hadn't have had the Curlews close by for comparison I doubt if I would have made the connection but if you were to see one in those circumstances it helps enormously. The chest, underwing and rump are very strikingly whiter than the curlew and the bill is shorter and thinner and not so curved and almost looks needle sharp in comparison to the curlew. It had an altogether greyer appearance and was distinctively smaller than the curlew (possibly about two thirds the size of a curlew). The underbody feathers seemed to extend partially down both legs. I thought of Whimbrel at first but dismissed that as it didn't have the diagnostic dark line on the crown, if anything the centre of the crown looked lighter in the middle. Even the spotting looked relatively larger on the S.B.Curlew than the Curlews it was with.
We had some amazing birds on this trip and we went into uncharted areas as we had hardly any info to go on so I found most of the areas myself and there were some brilliant areas found by us. We had some horrendous weather though for the first nine days and apparently, according to the reps and travel agencies there, it was the worst weather the Greeks have had in that area for over 150 years. We had mud slides, rock slides, whole sides of hills fallen down over roads, floods, fallen trees and telegraph poles, gale force winds, thunder and incredible lightning, (although I do love watching these continental lightning storms). Still, in the end, we had some good weather in the end and found some great places and some excellent birds.
Regards
John J
I am new into this forum and I hope that I am doing all the right things to get this thread on. The site looks more complicated than other sites I have used so I hope someone will pass on any advice to me that will help me use this site properley. I don't understand quite a bit of the jargon on this site such as post a poll etc so help will definitely be needed.
I noticed the site in the Bird Watching magazine and have only just decided to see what it is all about. I have a gull ID problem that hopefully someone might be able to help out with.
I have just come back from a two week holiday from mainland Greece and need help with a Gull I.D if it is possible. (My trip report will appear on the Birdtours.co.uk site shortly if anyone is interested. I have quite a few trip reports on this site already from Scotland to many parts of Europe)
The gull in question was found on the Rodia Lagoon (near Prevesa, north west Greece) at 13:30 on 04/10/02 and we watched it for over an hour. Unfortunately for the whole time the sun was shining directly onto the water in front of us and we had to catch snatches of the bird in shaded areas to gather the info I have.
I found it amongst 4 Black headed gulls and almost dismissed it as another one of them as it had the familiar black spot just back of the eye but looking at it again the jizz of the bird didn't look right. The neck was more slender and longer. The beak was long and slender without any black on it. The eye was yellow with the centre being a small black spot. The face had a cutish look about it whereas the B.H.gull doesn't. Thin black tail bar. Legs seemed longer and thinner than the B.H.Gull (for a while it stood on a small rock) and they were a very light orange to yellow in colour. When at rest in the water the wings protruded well back from the tail and lay in a scissor formation and seemed to have blackish wing tips. Unfortunately each time it flapped its wings the sun blotted out any chance of me really looking at the underwing or any part of the upper wing. When at rest the wing feathers looked almost whitish and very fluffy (that is the best I can describe them). There were minor darkish blotches, amongst the wing feathers) which made me think that the bird could be a juvenile. The black spot on the head was about two inches from the eye but didn't look as black as the B.H.Gulls spot (it was possibly further back on the head as well). The bird had a more compact look about it than the B.H.gull but looked slightly longer in length than the B.H.Gull. It kept on dipping into the water like a duck would (upended rear end). It would also flap its wings and move over the water very slightly above the water line then drop into it beak first to grab a fish. It would also lift itself off the water for about a couple of feet and then drop like a tern does.
My first thought would be slender billed gull but I have never seen one and my field guide doesn't give a write up of the eye colour. The picture, in the book, shows a whitish eye and also a pinkish chest, which I don't think this bird had, although the very bright light didn't help.
Is there anyone that could confirm, from that description, what gull it was that were looking at. I hope you don't mind me asking your advice regarding the gull ID
We also had an amazing piece of luck when we found a wetland, by chance, right near to the Albanian border at a place called Sagiada. We had a definite sighting of a Slender billed Curlew which, as you know, is a very rare bird. It was on the edge of a party of 20+ Curlews and really stood out as something different. If I hadn't have had the Curlews close by for comparison I doubt if I would have made the connection but if you were to see one in those circumstances it helps enormously. The chest, underwing and rump are very strikingly whiter than the curlew and the bill is shorter and thinner and not so curved and almost looks needle sharp in comparison to the curlew. It had an altogether greyer appearance and was distinctively smaller than the curlew (possibly about two thirds the size of a curlew). The underbody feathers seemed to extend partially down both legs. I thought of Whimbrel at first but dismissed that as it didn't have the diagnostic dark line on the crown, if anything the centre of the crown looked lighter in the middle. Even the spotting looked relatively larger on the S.B.Curlew than the Curlews it was with.
We had some amazing birds on this trip and we went into uncharted areas as we had hardly any info to go on so I found most of the areas myself and there were some brilliant areas found by us. We had some horrendous weather though for the first nine days and apparently, according to the reps and travel agencies there, it was the worst weather the Greeks have had in that area for over 150 years. We had mud slides, rock slides, whole sides of hills fallen down over roads, floods, fallen trees and telegraph poles, gale force winds, thunder and incredible lightning, (although I do love watching these continental lightning storms). Still, in the end, we had some good weather in the end and found some great places and some excellent birds.
Regards
John J