gulls (12 Viewers)

[Cristian Mihai]

Herastrau, February 18th.

 

[lou salomon]

gulp. nice to revise one more myth - "cachinnans shouldn't show such accentuated smudges around eye". in the 17.-19.th february series there's a lot of them! e.g. in this one from above: http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=371902&d=1330538422 or the right hand down bird here (i really struggled a bit with it - mich?): http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=371903&d=1330538440 ... errr - it's the same bird
always interesting to see large numbers of such varying species at a time.

today (29.2.) sebi and cipi where at herastrau. they sent me a pic with a very dark mich (thinking of argie). another bird photogr. at sunday indeed could be an argie though (but could be a dark micha also, just a front view unfortunately)...

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Did they (Sebi and Cipi) see the GBBG?

 

[Cristian Mihai]

What about this one (long shot, Herastrau, February 27th)?

 

[lou salomon]

no they didn't see it, but instead they thought to have photogr. a 2cy LBBG which ended to be another dwarfy michahellis ; your bird is a yellow-legged too. (gosh, they are returning to herastrau finally B )

pic 1: the suggested "LBBG" michahellis
pic 2-4: another dark mich (which was suspected to be an argie), very advanced with even rectrices 4-6 renewed - edit: probably only r6.; in pic 4 together with your friend pontic gull from 28.02. (nice to see that side to side with an advanced and totally different looking mich!)

 

[lou salomon]

the presumed argie/mich? from sunday, just 2 frontviews...
greater coverts look checkered.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

I agree that my bird looks good for a female micha.
I hope that I will be able to prepare for web (in the next few days) my photos with gulls taken in Herastrau on February 18th and 21st and to upload them here...
This morning (March 1st) I saw a lot of gulls again (Caspian, Common, BH) but I didn't took pictures (it was foggy).

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Ringed gull:
http://www.birdforum.net/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/405454/ppuser/54311

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Herastrau, March 2nd 2012. Same bird in pics 1 and 2. Another bird in pics 3, 4 & 5.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Herastrau, February 18th (again).

 

[Cristian Mihai]

More pics February 18th.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Five more, February 18th.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Lou, what do you think about the second bird from post #2349, is it a 4cy female?

 

[tittletattler]

Lou, what do you think about the second bird from post #2349, is it a 4cy female?

Some of those sub-adults are very tricky (well, for me, at least).

Caspians with pale Irides? Yellow-legged with Caspian primary patterns?

Lou/Janj - what do you think?

I'd put my money on Caspian.

Cheers, Andy.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Andy, the bird from post #2349 is a Caspian Gull. I don't have any doubt about this. Which other bird looks tricky for you?

 

[lou salomon]

all 3rd and 4th cycle types (4cy and 5cy) in posts 2349-2352) definitely are caspians, visible in the grey tongues in outer primaries (upper- and underwing). pale irides aren't rare (at least 30% show such pale ones in adults, less so in 3rd cycles, like in the one #2350).
the 4th cycle (5cy, cristian ) type in 2349 has a primary pattern perfectly fitting an older adult with long grey tongues, litlle black on underwing (nice typical cach "halfmoon") and large mirrors. just the dark smudges on right primary coverts (assymmetrical, since left ones are grey) and some black in tail give away the younger age. in other species we know examples of older aged birds (6cy, 7cy?) still showing rests of black in tail. sexing is hard in this ind.- it could be a strong female, could be a lighter weighted male.
the one in 2352 also is a 4th cycle type. i say type because at this age it is not secure to age it 100%. with those large mirrors, no black in tail and largish apical spots it should be older than 4cy however.

http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=372133&d=1330700673: note the extreme angle in hindcrown and very heavy bill in the male 2cy - caspians can have such 'rectangular' crowns together with a flat forehead in certain moods/statures.

also, again there is this tricky 2cy in 2350 (pics 1-2) showing features of both cach and mich. it might be a michahellis though but i'm far from sure. same bird, left side is this http://www.birdforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=372253&d=1330775797 but now it looks much more like a mich...very few replaced coverts for YLG.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

Five more pics, February 18th.

 

[tittletattler]

pale irides aren't rare (at least 30% show such pale ones in adults, less so in 3rd cycles, like in the one #2350).
the 4th cycle (5cy, cristian ) type in 2349 has a primary pattern perfectly fitting an older adult with long grey tongues, litlle black on underwing (nice typical cach "halfmoon") and large mirrors.

Thanks Lou and Cristian. I agree with you completely although I don't think 30% of the adult/sub adult birds on the Thames have pale irides. But nevertheless, some do.

Cheers, Andy.

 

[tittletattler]

Five more pics, February 18th.

I could write pages about the 2cy birds in that last photo: a mix of grey scaps, barred scaps, black centred scaps and then there's the wing coverts and the difference in moult and so on!

If I could choose one image to demonstrate the varied appearance and moult of 1st winter Caspians to go into a book, Cristian, then that picture would be the one I'd choose.

Cheers, Andy.

 

[Cristian Mihai]

And five more (February 18th). In the last pic another dwarf.