[MacGee]

The gull I saw today was the general size, shape and colouring of a Common Gull, except that it had very yellow legs and a yellow beak with a black vertical band. I didn't manage to get a picture and I didn't think to take careful note of the beak ring, but from memory, it was more pronounced than the ring on a juvenile Common Gull, but didn't seem so broad as the rings I see in pictures of Ring-billed Gulls. Can anyone help?

Michael

[apbarr]

Originally Posted by MacGee

The gull I saw today was the general size, shape and colouring of a Common Gull, except that it had very yellow legs and a yellow beak with a black vertical band. I didn't manage to get a picture and I didn't think to take careful note of the beak ring, but from memory, it was more pronounced than the ring on a juvenile Common Gull, but didn't seem so broad as the rings I see in pictures of Ring-billed Gulls. Can anyone help?

Michael

Possibly the Kinneil bird as it's in the same area

[david kelly]

There are a number of features you need to look out for a Ring-billed, compared to a Common. The bill should have the upper pat and lower part parallel with a blunt tip while Common has a pointed bill, the head shold be angular and not rounded and the iris is pale, not dark to give a "small Herring Gull" impression. The white cresent o the folded wing should be thin and neat, not wide like a Common Gull.

In other words the "ringed bill" is not the crucial feature and you should look at all of the bird.

David