This afternoon I took a break from the revision (the revision i've barely started!) and biked down to North Cave Wetlands. Its the first time I've done it in a while and it seemed quite a trek, but it was a lot of fun.
Anyway, I saw the usual bunch of birds, lots of shelduck chicks fluffing about on the water and the Avocets were very vocal (no signs of their young 'uns this time.) Warblers of all varieties were singing in the undergrowth and it's good to see the common terns settling in.
One bird I saw today made me think though, it just caught my attention as being a little different. I'm fairly sure it was another Black-headed Gull, but it did stand out- I thought it perhaps seemed a little Mediterranean like. Behaviourally it had separated itself from the black-heads and was washing in on the edge of the lake away from the main colony.
So...
(Sorry to get you all down with another depressing gull ID. ;-) Yuk.)
It's size was hard to gauge as it sat on its own, but I couldn't honestly say that it looked much bigger than the average Black-head if at all. Its back was very pale grey. Its wingtips were black. I did not see it fly, so I do not know about the underneath of its wings. I only viewed it from a distance through binoculars, (one disadvantage of taking the bike- no scope) but at that distance its bill seemed black. Perhaps it could've been a different colour but it it was certainly dark. Its head was the interesting bit; it was a smudge ashy black/grey all over, with a little mottling or speckling. The black region was fairly well covered all over the head though, with only a white mark between the eyes joining to the top of the beak. I would've said there was no brown feathers on the bird at all, not to the degree of a first winter black-head at least. Maybe there was a little, but it could've been obscured by its constant splashing and was therefore not visible to me.
I'll probably post this again in the ID thread, but I thought I'd post it here first for the more friendly ex-beebers to have a look at. Thankyou!
Anyway, I saw the usual bunch of birds, lots of shelduck chicks fluffing about on the water and the Avocets were very vocal (no signs of their young 'uns this time.) Warblers of all varieties were singing in the undergrowth and it's good to see the common terns settling in.
One bird I saw today made me think though, it just caught my attention as being a little different. I'm fairly sure it was another Black-headed Gull, but it did stand out- I thought it perhaps seemed a little Mediterranean like. Behaviourally it had separated itself from the black-heads and was washing in on the edge of the lake away from the main colony.
So...
(Sorry to get you all down with another depressing gull ID. ;-) Yuk.)
It's size was hard to gauge as it sat on its own, but I couldn't honestly say that it looked much bigger than the average Black-head if at all. Its back was very pale grey. Its wingtips were black. I did not see it fly, so I do not know about the underneath of its wings. I only viewed it from a distance through binoculars, (one disadvantage of taking the bike- no scope) but at that distance its bill seemed black. Perhaps it could've been a different colour but it it was certainly dark. Its head was the interesting bit; it was a smudge ashy black/grey all over, with a little mottling or speckling. The black region was fairly well covered all over the head though, with only a white mark between the eyes joining to the top of the beak. I would've said there was no brown feathers on the bird at all, not to the degree of a first winter black-head at least. Maybe there was a little, but it could've been obscured by its constant splashing and was therefore not visible to me.
I'll probably post this again in the ID thread, but I thought I'd post it here first for the more friendly ex-beebers to have a look at. Thankyou!
